Following the passing of Queen Elizabeth on Thursday the 8th of September, the AFL decided to pay its respects to her majesty in the upcoming weekend of football.
Coincidentally, the loss of the Queen happened to fall on the same weekend that the AFLW was entering its first of two Indigenous rounds. While the majority of Australians felt heavy sadness following her death and were more than happy to oblige to a minute’s silence such as the 62,000 people at the Melbourne vs Brisbane AFL match on Friday night, the AFLW clubs were not as accepting.
This is because the royal family has a negative connotation in the minds of Indigenous Australians due to colonisation. When Indigenous people think about Queen Elizabeth they don’t see a sweet, old life loving lady. They see the great great grandchild of the man who claimed the land of Australia, stripping our First Nation’s people of their freedom and way of living. So to have her death overshadow the celebrations in Indigenous round in the AFL left a sour taste in many mouths.
Speaking to Ethan Coombes – an Indigenous Australian from Naarm (Melbourne), he was very disappointed to see the Queen’s minute silence essentially replace the welcome to country ceremony at the Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle AFLW match on Friday the 9th of September.
“It’s not like I hate her (Queen Elizabeth) you know, but it felt pretty off to see everyone celebrating her when the round was meant to be for us.”
“Seeing the welcome to country not happen just so they could have a minute of silence for someone from that family who caused us so much grief hurt a bit to be honest. It makes me feel like Aussies don’t want to recognise what happened to my people.”
Western Bulldogs director and Indigenous woman Belinda Duarte who was part of the pre-game looked visibly uncomfortable during the minute’s silence, and stated that it “imposed a reflection on the impact of (Queen Elizabeth’s) life and reign” and “unearthed deep wounds”.
Following Friday night’s controversy, the AFLW made the decision to scrap the minute’s silence for the remaining games in the round, enabling welcome to country ceremonies to continue freely and also allow Indigenous Australians to be properly celebrated.
However the controversy didn’t stop with the AFLW, with NRLW player Caitlin Moran of the Newcastle Knights also heavily coating herself in the drama last week. Moran took to social media after the passing of Queen Elizabeth exclaiming how happy the news made her, and labelling the queen a “dumb dog”.
Moran, 25 is a proud Indigenous woman who has represented the Indigenous all-stars five times. Although, the comments were quite out of line and she has since received a one-match ban, as well as a suspended fine of 25 percent of her contract. This would have to be paid immediately if she is to re-offend.
The NRLW is treading on a fine line with a sanction as severe as this one, with the Rugby League Players’ Association already making it very clear that they are not pleased with the severity of Moran’s punishments.
The talk surrounding these issues is beginning to die down as the media moves to its next big talking point but the story here should not be forgotten. The Queen’s passing has served as a cruel reminder to many Indigenous people just how far Australia still has to go in properly respecting the past and the First Nation’s people.
