Melbourne Storm chairman Matt Tripp has has stated that a “miscommunication” was to blame for the cancellation of their Welcome to Country on Anzac Day.
Aunty Joy Murphy was scheduled to speak before the game against South Sydney, but was told at the last minute that she would not be required.
This occurred while other Indigenous performers rehearsed on the field.
READ MORE: Chief admits ‘overreaction’ in face of public outrage
READ MORE: ‘Very disappointed’: Legend rejects apology amid TV feud
READ MORE: One simple fix could correct ‘nonsensical’ AFL problem
Speaking to The Age, Tripp said he will do whatever it takes to repair the relationship.
Aunty Joy Murphy has often performed for the Storm Getty
“It has disappointed me beyond words,” Tripp told The Age.
“I am acutely aware of the many different cultures and races we have involved in our football club and our supporter base. Like I do with anything within the club, I guard that with my life and I want to protect that at all costs.
“To have a miscommunication deem us as non-sensitive to Welcome to Country and beyond that, a part of Australian customs, that has upset me greatly.”
The Welcome to Country was thrust into the spotlight in Victoria, where neo-Nazi hecklers booed the address at Melbourne’s Anzac Day dawn service.
Hecklers demanded Uncle Mark Brown stop his speech, with police escorting prominent neo-Nazi Jacob Hersant out of the area.
The ceremony was then performed at the MCG in front of 92,000 people in attendance for the traditional Collingwood versus Essendon AFL clash, where Uncle Colin Hunter’s rendition was met with great applause.
Former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire believes the Welcome to Country is perfect on Anzac Day for a number of reasons, but has called upon the AFL not to “overbake” the situation by doing them too regularly.
“I do think that when you’re going on Zoom calls with government officials and people are doing five Welcome to Countries and whenever someone gets the microphone we do it again, it has gone too far, so the pendulum has swung (too far), let’s bring it back. We don’t want to get rid of it by any stretch,” McGuire told Nine’s Eddie and Jimmy.
Uncle Colin Hunter delivers Welcome to Country on Anzac Day at the MCG AFL Photos via Getty Images
“What I think we need to do is finesse it so that we have something that is great.
“Come to the MCG, Uncle Colin comes up and gives a magnificent welcome to country in its brevity, in the right length, he mentions the Anzacs, he gets a round of applause from 100,000 people, then we have the New Zealand national anthem with Māori dialect and English, then we hear Advance Australia Fair, then the minute’s silence and everyone goes – wow, that was something.
“And what’s the key to it all? The simplicity, the empathy of what’s being said, not all this other stuff that comes into play.
“So I think when the Welcome to Country is delivered, it really moves me, when it gets done 15 times in one afternoon, it drives you mad.”
