Melbourne Storm decision sparks widespread reaction to Welcome to Country ceremonies

Melbourne Storm’s recent shock decision to review the club’s pre-game Welcome to Country ceremonies has sparked a fierce backlash on social media.

The NRL heavyweights made the decision to scale back on the ceremonies, confirming the news to the Herald Sun on Sunday.

The club then moved to clarify their decision on Sunday afternoon, claiming that they were not ‘ditching’ the ceremony, but will undertake a review as to when it will be performed.

‘Melbourne Storm is not ‘ditching’ its Welcome to Country or Acknowledgments as suggested by recent media,’ the statement read. ‘We will continue these acknowledgements at culturally significant celebrations.’

‘The strength and success of our Club is built on many cultures and communities, and our engagement with them has helped us to reflect the differing views on how we best support and represent each group.’

This year’s minor premiers added: ‘We will continue to talk to these communities and seek their input to find the most appropriate and respectful way to acknowledge and celebrate culture, including how we best acknowledge First Nations people.

Melbourne Storm confirmed they will still have the ceremony during Indigenous Round

‘The Club will continue to support First Nations community groups and organisations, as it has done for many years, delivering programs and initiatives that promote positive health, welfare and education outcomes.’

It is understood that the club will still hold Welcome to Country ceremonies during culturally significant events, including the NRL’s Indigenous round.

The news sparked a huge response online, with many fans taking to social media to comment on the topic.

‘Good on the Storm. End the divisive ceremonies,’ posted one X user.

‘Great success! Give the cash saved to grass roots footy clubs,’ replied another.

‘Fantastic news. The world is waking up,’ posted a third.

‘About time, why do we have to be welcomed to our own country,’ asked another.

Others were not happy about the NRL powerhouse’s decision.

Brendan Kerin, a cultural educator with Sydney ‘s Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, gave a blunt Welcome to Country at the AFL which he said was not for white people

‘Another reason not to renew my Storm membership,’ posted one X user.

Indigenous rapper Briggs posted: ‘See, the cost of living means cultural recognition is just not viable in this economy. There’s a price for cultural inclusion. Storm could do it if they wanted; if anyone knows how to work a salary cap – it’s them.’

He’d later follow up with another post on Facebook.

‘Unsurprising & underwhelming,’ Briggs wrote. ‘What’s your identity @Storm? I could care less about pageantry but the thin veil of respect is finally gone.

‘We revealed a part owner $175,000 donated to the NO campaign. What’s a welcome worth when these are the people who are behind the decisions & identity of the club?’

The social media storm comes just weeks after the Juru People of North Queensland voted to ban Welcome to Country ceremonies on their land.

‘The elders have had enough,’ Randall Ross, a spokesperson said on 4BC Mornings with Bill McDonald.

‘It is being abused and they want to put a stop to it.’

Some of the renewed attention to the ceremony is courtesy of its prominence before large sporting events, and particularly the Giants versus Lions semifinal in Sydney in September where Aboriginal Elder Brendan Kerin said they ‘weren’t to cater for white people’.

‘It’s a ceremony we’ve been doing for 250,000 years BC – and the BC stands for Before Cook,’ he told the crowd, referring to Captain James Cook’s arrival in Australia in 1770 ahead of European settlement.

Mr Kerin said the practice was not a welcome to Australia but that ‘within Australia we have many Aboriginal lands, and we refer to our lands as ”Country” so it’s always a welcome to the lands you’ve gathered on’.

‘Prior to colonisation, you could get in a lot of trouble for walking on someone else’s lands without being welcomed onto those lands,’ the Marrawarra and Barkindji man said.