NRL All-Stars match kicks off WITHOUT national anthems after both teams agreed not to sing following protests from Indigenous players
- Advance Australia Fair not played before the NRL Indigenous All-Stars game
- The national anthem was left out due to protests by Aboriginal players
- The New Zealand national anthem was also not played out of solidarity
- Both teams performed traditional war dances and a minute of silence was held
The NRL All-Stars match has gone ahead without the Australian and New Zealand national anthems being played amid protests from aboriginal rugby league players.
Both Advance Australia Fair and God Defend New Zealand were conspicuously absent from the lead-up to the game held on the Gold Coast on Saturday night.
A didgeridoo was played and a minute of silence held in honour of the stolen generation.
The Maori team then performed the traditional haka – which was followed by an Indigenous Australian war dance.
South Sydney star Latrell Mitchell is pictured leading an indigenous war cry before the All Stars game in Melbourne last year. He has now reportedly forced the national anthem to be scrapped from this year’s All Stars fixture on the Gold Coast
NRL star Latrell Mitchell is among a group of players to have reportedly forced the national anthem to be scrapped from the game.
Mitchell has become one of the main driving forces behind the push to stop Advance Australia Fair being played and refused to sing it at last year’s event.
The 22-year-old’s South Sydney Rabbitohs teammate Cody Walker said at the time the anthem ‘doesn’t represent me and my family’.
The ARL Commission scrapped the anthem under advice from the indigenous advisory council ahead of the annual celebration of the league’s Aboriginal and Maori players on the Gold Coast.
Mitchell himself is hoping to be in peak fitness for the game, having started his NRL pre-season late after signing with the Rabbitohs.
At least six indigenous players also refused to sing the national anthem during last year’s State of Origin series.
There is reportedly no desire though for the anthem to be removed from the 2020 State of Origin pregames, with the issue confined to the indigenous-centered All Stars game.
Maori All Stars forward Adam Blair said while he was always proud to sing New Zealand’s anthem, he understood the concerns of Indigenous players.
‘They’ve made a stance to go through the right process to take the anthem away from the game,’ Blair told AAP.
‘If that’s what they truly believe in, then that’s up to them.’
Earlier this month Mitchell posted a tribute to his Aboriginal heritage on his Instagram page.
In a powerful photograph accompanying the message, Mitchell was pictured stood in front of a darkened sky wearing a T-shirt bearing the Aboriginal flag.
‘Being Aboriginal is not the colour of your skin or how broad your nose is,’ Mitchell wrote in the Instagram post shared on Wednesday afternoon.
Mitchell shared an impassioned tribute to his Aboriginal culture alongside a photo (pictured) of him wearing a T-shirt bearing the indigenous flag. A day later, the ARL Commission is expected to scrap Advance Australia Fair from the All Stars game on February 22
‘It is a spiritual feeling – an identity you know in your heart. It is a unique feeling that is difficult for non-Aboriginals to fully understand.’
Last year, Mitchell suffered abuse at the hands of a troll who called him a racial slur on Facebook.
Mitchell called the troll out, saying racism had no place in Australia.
He officially left the Sydney Roosters and signed with bitter rivals Souths on January 13.
It’s understood the dual premiership winner has penned a deal for $600,000 this year and $800,000 for 2021, should the Rabbitohs exercise an option to renew his contract.