Australian rapper Briggs has made another move at the Melbourne Storm after the club made the controversial decision to call back the Welcome to Country ceremonies in 2025, reports suggest.
The Daily Telegraph claims the NRL squad could instead recognize the diversity of its players next season by giving a nod to their international cultures and backgrounds.
Storm attempted to clarify reports on Sunday afternoon claiming they were ‘killing’ the ceremony by releasing a statement insisting the footy club would not completely scrap the Welcome to Country ceremonies.
“Melbourne Storm is not ‘abandoning’ its Welcome to Country of Acknowledgments as suggested by recent media,” the statement said. “We will continue these recognitions at culturally significant celebrations.”
‘The strength and success of our club is based on many cultures and communities, and our involvement with them has helped us reflect different views on how we can best support and represent each group.’
This year’s minor premiers added: “We will continue to engage with these communities and seek their input to find the most appropriate and respectful way to recognize and celebrate culture, including how we can best recognize First Nations people .
Australian rapper Briggs has spoken out about Melbourne Storm after they called for a callback during the Welcome to Country ceremonies
Storm has made it clear online that they will not be scrapping Welcome to Country and will honor the ceremony at certain culturally significant events
The prominent football club continues with the ceremony for the Indigenous round of the NRL
“The Club will continue to support First Nations community groups and organizations, as it has done for many years, and deliver programs and initiatives that promote positive outcomes in health, wellness and education.”
It is understood the club will still hold Welcome to Country ceremonies at culturally significant events, including the Indigenous round of the NRL.
But the news has sparked a lot of discussion online, with Australian rapper Briggs hitting out at Storm on both Twitter and Facebook.
The 38-year-old rapper first wrote on X: “Look, the cost of living means cultural recognition just isn’t feasible in this economy. There is a prize for cultural inclusion. Storm could do it if they wanted to; If anyone knows how to work with a salary cap, it’s them.’
He would later post another message on Facebook.
“Unsurprising and disappointing,” Briggs wrote. ‘What is your identity @Storm? I can worry less about pageantry, but the thin veil of respect has finally disappeared.
“We revealed a co-owner who donated $175,000 to the NO campaign. What is a welcome value when these are the people behind the club’s decisions and identity?’
Other social media users echoed Briggs’ comments, writing: “Yet another reason not to renew my Storm membership.”
Briggs took to both X and Facebook to post two separate reactions to the news
Brendan Kerin, a cultural educator with the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council in Sydney, issued a blunt Welcome to Country to the AFL, which he said was not for white people.
Welcome to Country and Recognition of Country ceremonies are a hot topic for councils across the country
But lately, some have been divided over the ceremony.
Last week, the Juru people of North Queensland voted to ban Welcome to Country ceremonies on their land.
“The elderly have had enough,” said Randall Ross, a spokesperson on 4BC Mornings with Bill McDonald.
“It is being abused and they want to put an end to it.”
Aboriginal elder Uncle Brendan Kerin also attracted renewed attention in September for his comments ahead of the Giants and Lions AFL semi-final in Sydney, in which he claimed the ceremonies were “not designed to cater to white people there”.
“A welcome to the country is not a welcome to Australia (but) a welcome to the countries where you have gathered. It’s not a ceremony we invented to cater to white people. It’s a ceremony we’ve been performing for 250,000 years – plus before Christ. And the BC stands for Before Cook,” he said.
That has prompted some to give their verdict on the matter, with former Geelong star Matthew Stokes saying: ‘Welcome to Country should be a beautiful, respectful ceremony that unites us all as we reflect on Australia’s extraordinary history, which has unfolded extends long before white settlement. .
“Instead it is divisive and to be honest I can understand why many people are confused by its purpose as coverage of the AFL finals broadcasts the ceremonies to millions of football fans.”