Indigenous footy great Mathew Stokes blasts Welcome to Country ceremonies and makes bombshell admission about how they REALLY made him feel before he took to the field

Indigenous Geelong premiership winner Mathew Stokes has lashed out at Welcome to Country ceremonies for becoming too divisive and getting hijacked by ‘people with agendas’.

The 200-game Cats great also voiced his hope that Australians will be able to ‘offer their opinion about Welcome to Country without being called racist’.

His comments come after the ceremony before last Saturday’s GWS vs Brisbane final was slammed by angry fans who branded it a ‘disgrace’ after celebrant Brendan Kerin said the rituals were not ‘invented to cater for white people’.

Stokes also revealed he had ‘no interest’ in the Welcome to Country when it was performed before big games he played in because it made him feel ‘uncomfortable’.

‘Welcome to Country should be a beautiful, respectful ceremony that unites us as we reflect on Australia’s extraordinary history which stretches long before white settlement,’ he wrote in The Age.

‘Instead, it’s becoming divisive and, to be honest, I can understand why many people are confused by its purpose, as the AFL finals coverage broadcasts the ceremonies to millions of football fans.

‘I feel the moment is, in some instances, being used by people who take the chance, when speaking to more than a million people watching on television, to push their own views rather than a chance for all present to show respect for the deep history attached to the land on which the game is being played.’

The 39-year-old – who won flags with the Cats in 2007, 2009 and 2011 – called for a ‘genuine debate’ about the ceremonies, but added, ‘That can only happen if people can offer their opinion about Welcome to Country without being labelled as racist.’

The Cats great also revealed that the Welcomes that were performed before the biggest games he played in left him feeling ‘uncomfortable’ 

Stokes then revealed his surprising reaction to the ceremonies when he was a player.

‘As an Aboriginal man with love and respect for my culture and our traditions I was not interested in the Welcome to Country before a big final,’ he said. 

‘My focus as a player was on what would happen when the ball was bounced.

‘To be brutally honest, although it might be good and well for everyone outside the boundary, when you are part of the game and you are an Aboriginal man, you can start to feel uncomfortable during that moment.’

He also said the Welcome is ‘being overdone, which dilutes its effect, particularly if the ceremony is used to push agendas’.

The ceremony before the GWS vs Brisbane final in Sydney last Saturday night – which also saw Kerin claim Welcomes have been conducted since 250,000 years before Captain James Cook reached Australia – drew outraged reactions from politician Pauline Hanson and footy legend Tony Shaw.

Stokes’ comments came hot on the heels of the very controversial Welcome conducted by celebrant Brendan Kerin before last Saturday night’s GWS vs Brisbane final

According to Stokes, the ceremonies are dividing and confusing Australians – while also saying they’re becoming ‘overdone’ (pictured, Uncle Colin Hunter performs the Welcome at the AFL Awards last month)

Hanson branded the rituals ‘one of the most racially divisive features of modern discourse in Australia’ and later called for footy fans to turn their backs on them before games.

Shaw – who skippered Collingwood to the 1990 flag – blasted the AFL as ‘weak’ and ‘politically correct’ for failing to issue a public rebuke over Kerin’s take on the ceremony. 

Channel Nine footy commentator Tony Jones also waded into the controversy, saying the AFL should start vetting what the celebrants say before they deliver the Welcome in order to prevent future scandals. 

‘Now whether you agree with Welcome to Country or not, I think football fans show a fair degree of respect. But there’s a problem. There’s a problem and the AFL must address this,’ Jones said.

‘This is an observance during Saturday night’s Welcome to Country… there was laughter through it, and I’ll tell you why: because these Welcomes they’re not, and should not be, personal agendas.

‘They shouldn’t be there for political statements per se and I’m not sure whether the AFL vets the scripts, maybe they will as of now because those comments did not go down well with a number of people in the crowd.