Content warning: This article contains mentions of racial discrimination against First Nations people.
I’m not an Indigenous person.
However, as I sat at home to turn the television on to watch the AFLW’s first game of the Indigenous round, an announcement rang out around the stadium.
The announcer stated “the ‘Acknowledgment of country” ceremony which takes place before every game would be replaced by a minute of silence to honour Queen Elizabeth.
I felt a churning feeling in the pit of my stomach.
As I said I’m not an Indigenous person, but this made me feel uncomfortable.
Kirby Bentley (pictured below) is an assistant coach at the Essendon Football Club in the AFLW and a proud Noongar women.
She said it was important to identify what our history looks like in relation to Indigenous Australians.
“When we do make a comment or put something in place in relation to the queen it’s a bit of a challenge, it’s a difficult position to be in, for me personally that’s not something I would stand for and I think it’s probably not the appropriate time either,” she said.
Melbourne’s AFLW Captain Daisy Pearce echoed this sentiment voicing her support for Indigenous players upset by the actions of the AFL on SEN radio.
“While for many Australians and people around the world, the Queen represents a long remarkable reign marked by good will, grace, leadership, family and service. For a group of very significant Australians, the first owners of this land, it doesn’t – it doesn’t represent that,” she said.
https://twitter.com/1116sen/status/1570225510487314433
Pearce’s thoughtful and balanced view of the situation indicates how far behind the AFL are trailing in their responses to Indigenous issues, which is frustrating for an organisation promoting inclusivity.
My frustration at the AFL stems from the code and CEO Gillon Mclachlan having a shocking track record when it pertains to Indigenous issues and repeatedly deflecting blame.
This was made crystal clear with Swans champion Adam Goodes, an Indigenous player booed for weeks on end during the 2015 season because he called out racism and was proud of his culture.
McLachlan displayed no signs of leadership to help Goodes and couldn’t bring himself to even call the booing fort what it was, racist.
In more recent times the AFL claimed they did enough to support Adelaide Crows players racially abused and culturally appropriated on a camp organised by their coaches in 2018.
Gillon Mclachlan and the Crows refused to take any responsibility for mistakes that wounded Indigenous people deeply.
The lack of support for these Indigenous players sums up the AFL’s perspective, they are happy to wear the beautifully designed guernsey’s but when it comes down to real cultural issues affecting players the silence is deafening.
I’ve had enough of token gestures from the AFL, prominent footy commentators like Eddie Mcguire didn’t like Adam Goodes performing an Indigenous dance in Indigenous round because it was “threatening”.
But Mcguire is not spoken to by the powers above about how those words in the public discourse negatively affect Indigenous players such as Goodes
And Mcguire continues to have a huge influence on football media, meanwhile Goodes is bullied out of the game in his final playing years, this is not ok.
For the AFL to make such a disgraceful decision and scrap the acknowledgement of country begs the question, who in the AFL made the decision to scrap the acknowledgement of country?
Unfortunately the AFL have declined to comment on the issue which in my view is another weak decision, perhaps if there were more Indigenous people on the AFL board they could advise Mclachlan to not be silent on cultural issues.
I understand this is a sensitive topic and my intention is not to speak for Indigenous people, I’m aware of Indigenous voices such as Australian Indigenous Education Foundation chairman Warren Mundine who greatly respects the monarch and feels there ought to be a minute of silence for the Queen.
But the fact there are Indigenous people who feel trauma from a dark past we are still yet to face up to highlights the nuance required to respect all sides, something the AFL severely lacks the capability of handling.
It’s clear the general public are just as uneducated as the AFL on the problem with removing the welcome to country, if social media is anything to go by.
People in the twitter verse demand respect for the Queen with their right to freedom of speech, but do not afford the same rights to Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe who was abused mercilessly for calling the Queen “a coloniser”.
I think it’s time for the AFL to stop trying to please everyone and merely making business decisions like a popularity contest.
Be a voice for the voiceless and stand up for the core beliefs you espouse as a sporting body because at the moment the AFL is at serious risk of being on the wrong side of history again.
