Sam Newman makes bombshell confession about his call to boo Welcome to Country at the AFL Grand Final as he launches another attack on the ceremony
Sam Newman has surprisingly admitted he would not boo the Welcome to Country ceremony at this weekend’s grand final, despite the insistence of AFL fans to do so.
Newman, 77, last week explosively called on football fans to drown out the pre-match ceremony with cheers, but it had the opposite effect and supporters applauded instead.
Since then, there have been calls to remove the broadcaster and former player from the Hall of Fame.
But despite doubling down on his scathing criticism of the ceremony, Newman said he will not boo it during the grand final between Collingwood and Brisbane this weekend.
“I wouldn’t boo during the grand final, but it was just a lame comment: I don’t agree with the Welcome to Country during the grand final,” he said on his podcast.
Sam Newman has made a surprising admission following his Welcome to Country comments
The former footy star called for the ceremony to be booed by AFL fans
“My point is that everything you visit now, you go into a library, anywhere, the whole thing starts with it.
‘You feel guilty for being here.
“When is it ever enough that we say, ‘Wait a minute, this is enough, how much further do we want to go?’
Newman added that the Welcome to Country ceremony does not “unite us.”
“I said last week that we should declare Welcome to Country, it was an extravagant statement.
“(The Welcome to Country has) gone overboard and the social elites are just trying to perpetuate their own white prejudices by feeling virtuous for continuing to do this.
“This is why I criticized the AFL, it’s just become a minefield of nonsense, they need to pull it back.
“(It) doesn’t unite us, that’s my point. To stand at the MCG on grand final day and say, ‘You are welcome to the country and we are allowing you to play on the ground’, that does not unite us.
He has doubled down on that position, but insisted he would not call it out himself
“That shows the world that we are a divided nation, that’s my point.”
The former footy player was criticized by former premier Daniel Andrews and AFL chief Gillon McLachlan for his comments.
Ahead of the upcoming Voice to Parliament referendum, Newman made his views clear on how he will vote.
“Kevin Rudd, when he was Prime Minister, he apologized for what happened,” he added.
‘Why wasn’t that enough?
‘There are ten to eleven indigenous politicians for two and a half to three percent of the indigenous population.
“Why do we need the Voice when there are eleven people representing your people, our people?”