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.
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.
There is debate over the Welcome to Country.Credit: Getty Images
Unfortunately, that confusion is being used by some people with agendas as a vehicle to denigrate Aboriginal people and its culture, which is bad.
However, there are enough voices both within the Aboriginal and white community expressing misgivings about what the Welcome to Country has become that a genuine debate about the ceremony would be useful.
That can only happen if people can offer their opinion about Welcome to Country without being labelled as racist.
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 reality is, whether you like it or not, people are not there to watch Welcome to Country, they are there to watch a game of football.
Shannon Ruska understood why the crowd was at the Gabba when he gave a rousing Welcome to Country before the elimination final against Carlton, as did Edwin Fejo and Liam Stansfield in Darwin before the Suns-Cats’ Dreamtime match this season.
Both welcomed and unified as they built the atmosphere before a game of footy. But as much as I enjoyed those moments, was their tone the right one? That’s worth discussing.
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. My focus as a player was on what would happen when the ball was bounced.
Harris Andrews and Callum Ah Chee of the Lions celebrate the win.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
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.
It’s as though every eyeball turns to the Aboriginal person in those moments. When you are playing, you want to be in a frame of mind of your choosing. And now as an ex-player who listens to Welcome to Country in the same way as most of the population, I feel it is being overdone which dilutes its effect, particularly if the ceremony is used to push agendas.
It all means a debate among Aboriginal people about Welcome to Country ceremonies is legitimate, particularly on how it is delivered.
There is clearly no place for any ceremony to be mocked, and the Welcome to Country doesn’t need to gain approval from other sections of society. But there is also little value in using that reality as an excuse if its expression causes division before a game.
The pre-match is not the time to talk about the history of our country, it’s about acknowledging that the country that is about to host the game we love has welcomed the match to their country.
I want to live in a world where the Welcome to Country welcomes everyone to the land on which the game is being played and shows respect for the traditional owners of that land by acknowledging them and their presence.
All the while being grateful that whether you’re black or white, we all call Australia home. I look forward to the discussion.
Mathew Stokes is a Larrakia man who played 200 games with Geelong and Essendon. He played in Geelong’s 2007 and 2011 premiership teams.
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