Indigenous footy great Matthew Stokes blasts Welcome to Country ceremonies and makes bombshell admission about how they REALLY made him feel before he took to the field
- Matthew Stokes won the championship with Geelong
- Cats star has criticised some pre-match performances
Matthew Stokes, the Indigenous winner of the Geelong premiership, has slammed the Welcome to Country ceremonies, saying the party is too divided and being hijacked by “people with agendas”.
The 200-game Cats legend also expressed hope that Australians “can have their say on Welcome to Country without being called racist”.
His comments come after the ceremony ahead of Saturday’s final between GWS and Brisbane was criticised by angry fans, who branded it a “disgrace” after master of ceremonies Brendan Kerin said the rituals were “not designed to meet the needs of white people”.
Stokes also indicated that he had “no interest” in the Welcome to Country song being performed before major competitions he competed in because it made him feel “uncomfortable.”
āWelcome to Country should be a beautiful, respectful ceremony that unites us as we reflect on Australiaās extraordinary history, which stretches back long before white colonisation,ā he wrote in The age.
‘Instead it is divisive and frankly I can understand why many people don’t understand the purpose of it given that the AFL finals broadcast broadcasts the ceremonies to millions of football fans.
‘I feel that in some cases this moment is being abused by people who, when they are watching on television in front of over a million people, take the opportunity to express their own views rather than giving everyone present the opportunity to show respect for the deep history of the country where the game is being played.’
The 39-year-old, who won flags with the Cats in 2007, 2009 and 2011, called for a “real debate” about the ceremonies, but added: “That can only happen if people can have their say about Welcome to Country without being labelled racist.”
Geelong premiership winner Matthew Stokes (pictured) is fed up with Welcome to Country being used to push political agendas
The Cats legend also revealed that the welcome messages performed before the biggest games he attended made him feel ‘uncomfortable’
Stokes then revealed how he, as a player, surprisingly reacted to the ceremonies.
āAs an Aboriginal person with a love and respect for my culture and our traditions, I was not interested in the Welcome to Country program before a grand final,ā he said.
‘As a player I concentrated on what would happen when the ball bounced.
‘To be honest, while it may be all well and good for everyone outside the border, as an Aboriginal man, as part of the game, you may feel uncomfortable at that point.’
He also said that the Welcome Party is “being exaggerated, diminishing its impact, especially when the ceremony is used to push certain agendas.”
The ceremony ahead of the GWS final against Brisbane in Sydney last Saturday night – which also saw Kerin claim that Welcomes were held 250,000 years before Captain James Cook reached Australia – prompted outrage from politician Pauline Hanson and football legend Tony Shaw.
Stokes’ comments came hot on the heels of celebrant Brendan Kerin’s highly controversial welcome speech ahead of last Saturday night’s GWS vs Brisbane final.
Stokes says the ceremonies divide and confuse Australians, but he also says they are becoming “too over the top” (pictured is Uncle Colin Hunter performing the welcome song at the AFL Awards last month)
Hanson called the rituals “one of the most racially divisive features of modern Australian discourse” and later called on football fans to turn their backs on them before matches.
Shaw, who led Collingwood to the flag in 1990, called the AFL “weak” and “politically correct” for not publicly criticising Kerin for her views on the ceremony.
Channel Nine football commentator Tony Jones also weighed in on the controversy. He said the AFL should vet the partygoers’ statements before they give their welcome speeches, to prevent future scandals.
“Whether you agree with Welcome to Country or not, I think football fans should show a fair amount of respect. But there is a problem. There is a problem and the AFL needs to address it,” Jones said.
‘This is a commemoration at Saturday night’s Welcome to Country… there was laughter and I’ll tell you why: because these Welcomes have no personal agendas and shouldn’t have any.
“They really shouldn’t be there to make political statements and I’m not sure the AFL checks the scripts. Maybe they do now because those comments didn’t go down well with some people in the audience.