Rugby Australia has become the latest sporting organisation to endorse the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, joining the NRL, Tennis Australia, Football Australia and the Australian Olympic Committee as well as several AFL clubs which have formalised their support.
The overlap between sport and politics is one that has always existed. The unique and powerful platform sport provides can be utilised for social change. Throughout history sport has been held up as a beacon of inclusion where acts such as Peter Norman supporting black athletes at the Mexico Olympics or sporting organisations playing a part in the marriage equality campaign in 2017.
The debate around the Voice referendum to parliament has once again seen the unavoidable merging of sport and wider society. Opposition leader Peter Dutton hit out at sporting ‘elites’ as both the Nationals and Liberals declared they will formally oppose the vote.
Dutton stated it was counter-productive for sporting organisations to state a position.
“Most of their fans are really scratching their head as to why the elites within sport, particularly the elites involved in the administration of the game, are taking a position into the Voice”.
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott also tweeted out that Rugby Australia had been the latest sporting body to be socially blackmailed into confirming a position on the Voice and that this latest debate was vastly different from 1967 or ending the White Australia Policy.
Critics of sporting bodies and athletes which involve themselves in political matters such as when Fox News host Laura Ingraham infamously suggested LeBron James “shut up and dribble”, highlights the missing link many of these detractors fail to acknowledge when it comes to sport and politics.
Sporting organisations are guided by core values and goals and like many other areas of society are constantly engaging in day-to-day challenges of improving diversity and opportunities for people with disabilities.
The ability to achieve many of these goals are guided by policies including vision, strategy and impact which are all steeped in politics.
Rugby Australian chairman Hamish McLennan, who oversaw the statement which was released to state Rugby Australia’s position on the Voice, stressed that they were not telling people how to vote.
“But the proposed referendum on the Voice to Parliament is too important a contest to watch in silence. And we know we aren’t the only sports body which believes the aims of the referendum transcend any rivalries,” he said.
The intertwined history of the traditional land owners of Australia and sport was showcased for all to see in the NRL and AFL’s Indigenous Rounds, wherein the significant contribution of Indigenous and First Nations people was recognised and celebrated in both codes.
The recognition and inclusive capacity of sport to celebrate the many indigenous athletes which have and continue to entertain crowds all over Australia is one that is important and signifies the compelling platform sport holds within this country when it comes to dealing with and helping close the gap in achieving true unity as a nation.
Sport has a major role to play in the direction of the Voice vote and ultimately will be judged on whether the major sporting codes within Australia fall on the right side of history.
Tony Harper
Editor
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General
Roar Rookie
@ bretttt. You sound like you belong in the playground or maybe your just kid stuck in his room with keyboard.
General
Roar Rookie
You don't even live in Australia so has no implications for you. However you seem to be a person who believes in self-entitlement. Good on you.
General
Roar Rookie
Your right Bretto, Chuck does come across more like a simpleton.
PeterK
Roar Guru
so you can't name any privileges that white men get, ok.
Bretto
Roar Rookie
This is a joke right? Name 1 safe space for men? Ask your wife and daughters.
Kafka
Roar Rookie
Well put Long 280 , I should have been more concise in my response – yes, these words were deleted from the constitution after the 1967 referendum, explicitly targeting First Nations people yet the shadow of ‘special powers’ along with section 122 ( Federal Govt Powers over Territories) hangs over Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people like no other ethnic group in Australia. What we have seen since 1967 is the Australian government rolling out laws that have negatively impacted on First Nations communities. This is not about winning an argument but widening each other’s lens, as you have just done for me, so that we can be better , & do better, as people and as a nation. Section 51 the ‘races power’ is entirely anachronistic and should be removed because the notion of distinction upon the basis of ‘race’ ( are we not one race – homo sapiens)?) is something that has generally been left behind globally in the free world. If there is any place for ‘special laws’ to be made in this Country it possibly should have nothing to do with race but the unique wisdom and place Aboriginal People. I know everybody should be treated the same but what I am referencing is not just a distinction on race. It’s a distinction based as Justice French, a former Chief Justice of the High Court articulates , ‘ a distinction based on the special status as the first peoples of this country and a hugely important part of our national identity now in a way we haven’t appreciated before.’ So, a constitutionally enshrined Voice to parliament for the First Nations people of Australia, may also need to be seen as longer term vision of this country coming into a deeper relationship with its first peoples and the unique wisdom they carry for our future , on a community level. It in many ways, it is not a pitch to solve immediately every single problem and residue of colonisation and intergenerational trauma but for us to come into a more mature nation of greater understanding of who we are in spiritual terms, not just what we are in material terms. Sport is all about the ‘spirit of play’ not just winning. Let’s keep talking. All the best – Guwayu
PeterK
Roar Guru
Name 1 law that gives privilege to white men then. Name 1 safe space for men. Name 1 body or organisation setting up help, or aid or services just for white people then. Zero priviliges for white men.
Bretto
Roar Rookie
Tosser ? - you still are General. If it was the Rising Star you've led from round one and increased your lead every game.
Bretto
Roar Rookie
Too late. Way way too late. Probs more of a simpleton than a tosser....
Bretto
Roar Rookie
Charlie - the sad fact is reasonable argument is unlikely to change a single mind on this, it is however revealing to know where people stand. Like Dutton getting it wrong and then apologizing for walking out of the chamber during the Stolen Generations apology, this is another test of character. Dutton as expected will fail again. It's weird how a lot of white Australians think recognizing the appalling treatment of first nations peoples makes them personally responsible. It doesn't. However not being part of the solution and actively working against it does certainly make them personally responsible.
Jack Russell
Roar Guru
No less so than anyone else.
Bretto
Roar Rookie
Jesus wept are you serious? It's not about elevating a group or giving special treatment, it's part of a process of righting a GENOCIDE. The treatment of first nations peoples is a stain on this country and this is a symbolic step to reconciliation. Don't worry white men, you'll still be the most privileged group in this country for a long time yet (me included).
spaceman
Roar Rookie
I agree Sheek, humanitarian = all humans, not an individual race, it is a humanitarian issue, and can be solved by humans. Sheek, when are you going to Balgo to help out, with your money lol, come on Aussie, come on, you can do it from your comfortable lifestyle, you will make more difference than your virtue signal keyboard warrior stance, and the Voice combined, your effort on the ground will be worth millions of siphoned trickle down displaced government money. No, it is an indigenous problem huh, and now through your support of the voice you can leave it to them to solve it, and distance yourself. lol sheek = weak
Bretto
Roar Rookie
Stop reading the Herald Sun and watching Sky after dark. It does not such thing and you are either uninformed or a liar.
Bretto
Roar Rookie
Out of interest Duncan - was the Stolen Generations apology also symbolic (therefore meaningless), in haste, and now seen as a mistake?
General
Roar Rookie
I prefer not to sound like a tosser.
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
Yet you still understood my meaning? Perhaps you need to be more flexible with your use of language
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
I have replied. It's being checked. It'll make it.
Long280
Roar Rookie
Section 51 xxvi : ....the people of any race for who it is deemed necessary to make special laws. This clearly does not pertain to only Indigenous people nor does this section or any other part of the constitution give parliamnet a power to restrict their movement or association. Further,it was this section that was ammended from "...the people of any race,other than the aboriginal race in any State,for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws" to what we now have as I have shown above. It is you who needs a better understanding of our constitution and its history.