Calls for Sam Newman to be booted from AFL Hall of Fame over Welcome to Country booing comment
Sam Newman is facing calls for removal from the AFL Hall of Fame after demanding football fans belt out the Welcome to Country ceremony.
An online petition has gathered calling for Newman to be stripped of the honor. more than 6,300 signatures – the latest backlash against the ex-AFL player and media star.
Newman made the call earlier this week to boo or slowly clap each Welcome to Country, but his calls fell on deaf ears.
About 36,000 AFL fans ignored the plea in an inspiring show of solidarity before Brisbane defeated Carlton at the Gabba, in Brisbane, on Saturday evening.
Instead, fans listened quietly to the Acknowledgment of Country, politely clapped hands with Yuggera, Nunukul, Turrbul and Yugambeh man Shannon Ruska and cheered after he delivered a short but powerful welcome ceremony.
Instead of booing, footy fans of the Gabba Aboriginal man Shannon Ruska clapped and then cheered as he delivered a short but sweet Welcome to Country.
Sam Newman faces calls for removal from the AFL Hall of Fame after his demand that football fans boo the Welcome to Country ceremony in Brisbane was ignored
He ended by encouraging the crown to sing ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi’.
The same happened the night before during the first preliminary final between Collingwood and Greater Western Sydney, where not a single boos was heard from the crowd of over 90,000.
Newman, a former Collingwood ruckman turned media personality, had expressed his views on the traditional ceremony on his podcast ‘You Cannot Be Serious’ on Wednesday.
“So the next time you go to a public event, like the grand final, or a football match, or any other public event in an auditorium and they trot out the welcome to the country, start booing or slowly clapping their hands.” , says Newman. told the podcast.
Newman doubled down while speaking on The Opposition Podcast, claiming the ceremony divided people on issues of race.
‘Are we tired of this? I’ve been working on this for a while. I find it insulting and humiliating to be welcomed into a country where I live,” Newman said on the podcast.
Newman was roundly criticized for his comments, with Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe telling him to “educate himself” and AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan saying: “I strongly disagree.”
The petition on change.org claimed that Newman’s latest statements are evidence that he now fails the “good character” test that is part of the honor bestowed on him in 2002.
“For years and on many occasions, Newman has demonstrated bad character (at best),” the petition said
“It’s time for the AFL to show support (as they claim to do) for those he has consistently disrespected with his disgusting comments, and for the AFL to take action and remove him from the Hall of Fame – an honor he is not worthy of . ‘
Newman, now 77, played 300 games and kicked 110 goals for Geelong between 1964 and 1980 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002.
He had a long media career after retirement, including a 24-year run on The Footy Show and briefly co-hosted his own show with Paul Vautin, Sam and the Fatman.
Newman has a long history of provocative on-air stunts, including wearing blackface after Nicky Winmar failed to appear on The Footy Show in 1999, and groping a lingerie-clad mannequin with a photo of journalist Caroline Wilson’s face on it 2008.
Newman, now 77, played 300 games and scored 110 goals for Geelong between 1964 and 1980 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002. He has led a rollercoaster life since his retirement.
Amanda Brown’s death “changed me significantly,” Sam Newman said in 2022. “I became more circumspect and much more emotional.” Pictured with late wife Amanda Brown
He resigned from the Nine network in 2020 after claiming that African-American man George Floyd, whose killing by police officer Derek Chauvin sparked global protests, was “a piece of s***”.
Newman’s personal life has been a rollercoaster. He is a prostate cancer survivor and has been married four times, losing his last husband, Amanda Brown, in tragic circumstances in 2021.
He arrived home to find her dead of a stroke in the home they shared, and tried unsuccessfully to revive her through CPR for 30 minutes.
He claimed on his podcast You Cannot be Serious that her death had made him more ‘cautious’.