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It’s that time of year when AFL clubs abandon their traditions and history, temporarily changing names and guernseys to celebrate one special class of Australians because of skin colour. Yes, it’s the AFL’s two-week Indigenous Round(s), when all morally worthy Australians must view Aussie Rules through the woke prism of race.
For Rounds 10 and 11, all 18 AFL clubs have been wearing indigenous-themed jumpers that toss overboard the grand, bold and simply designs of jerseys that readily identify the team to its passionate fans (and to teammates during play), replacing them with an amorphous but indigenously-correct bunch of ‘artistic’ swirls and dots designed by (inevitably ‘proud’) Aboriginal artists.
Six clubs have gone one better and changed their actual names – the Adelaide Crows becomes Kuwarna, Fremantle morphs into Walyalup, Port Adelaide takes on the moniker of Yartapuulti, St Kilda transforms into the unpronounceable Euro-Yroke and the West Coast Eagles are the equally cumbersome Waalitj Marawar.
The Melbourne Demons condescendingly explain their temporary renaming to Narrm as looking to “educate the football and wider Australian audience on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture” (for which there is barely a second or two of media coverage whatsoever in the normal run of things). Why the “traditional” name for Melbourne has been chosen to be Narrm, by the way, is anyone’s guess given the murky complications of translation into English from purely oral, and now largely dead, Aboriginal languages and the competitive land claims between rival tribes over the much vaunted 65,000 years of Aboriginal occupation. But then, the Aboriginal erasure of colonial language is all about woke form rather than linguistic substance.
The umpires are not overlooked in Indigenous Round(s), either – their uniforms are also Indigenous-chic – whilst even the holy Sherrin gets a makeover with its own indigenous design and the brand on the match ball becoming Koethuka Kakur (which really trips off the tongue), allegedly a Saibai Island dialect translation for ‘ball’. There is, predictably, an annual Dreamtime at the G match (Richmond v Essendon) and a ‘Marn Grook Game’ at the SCG, even though Tom Wills, the colonial father of the Aussie Rules code, traced the game’s origins to rugby and village football.
The NRL has also gone in for race branding and other sports can not be far behind. Politically correct punters await the running of the annual Narrm Cup on the first Tuesday of November with great anticipation.
The indigenous ‘cultural appropriation’ of Australian Rules football has joined the saturation calendar coverage of Aboriginal ‘special days’ (and weeks and months) to “celebrate or recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and culture” and to overtly or implicitly stick it to the white, Western civilisation that few Aborigines actually show any signs of rejecting but which their activist caste treat as a punching bag and ready-made excuse for lingering pockets of Aboriginal dysfunction.
So, footy is the ‘circuses’ adjunct to the woke bread of National Apology Day, National Close the Gap Day, Harmony Day, National Sorry Day, 1967 Referendum Day (definitely not that other one – the Voice, resoundingly defeated), National Reconciliation Week, Mabo Day, Coming of the Light (one for the Torres Strait Islanders), NAIDOC Week, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day, International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Literacy Day and the Anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.
No politician dare miss being seen at the four-day Garma Festival. So much injustice, so many days to remind us of the need for constant atonement. A virtue-signaller’s work is never done.
The AFL’s tagging along with this busy commemoration schedule is no surprise for a corporate body which employs a top executive (Executive General Manager Inclusion and Social Policy, an indigenous lady of course) tasked solely with “celebrating black excellence” and the “incredible resilience”, “courage, determination and strength” of First Nations peoples. The naming of the Indigenous Round after Sir Doug Nicholls, who was a Fitzroy cham[pion in the 1930s, of course reflects how he became a “leader for Aboriginal reconciliation in Australia” and thus gets naming rights. AFL Indigenous Round is all about such special treatment of one class of Australians, and the political elevation of their activist elite, rather than the grateful assimilation of almost all Aborigines into modern Western culture.
Of course, the celebration jamboree will have to avert its eyes from ‘unworthy’ indigenous players, like those who were on-field thugs or saw the inside of a jail cell, just as veils are similarly drawn over other unpleasant elements of the historical and contemporary Aboriginal life. The woke narrative of a noble people whose pre-colonial life of equality and peace being brutally destroyed by the arrival of the white man must not be questioned. So, it’s a fortnight of tales of colonial and ongoing oppression against which heroic Aborigines have to rebel with many goal-assists from an adoring media.
It’s nothing but woke theatre when all that anyone unafflicted by chronic wokeness wants is an exciting game without all the fanfare of woke box-ticking. Surely we can recognise the skill of the players, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike, some of whom, as with players of any and every other background, make for much-loved heroes and others moustache-twirling villains. No race of player has a monopoly on the good, bad or indifferent on, or off, the field. Instead, what we get is busybody woke interventionists obsessing about skin colour when black, white or brown Australians have moved on from all that.
Footy bores are some of the worst bores around, but give me one of those any day of the year over the indigenous-grievance bore and leave our truly Australian game the hell alone.
As a (non-woke) Melbourne Dees supporter (and, dare I say it, a ‘proud’ one), the Dees are the Melbourne Football Club. Always was, always will be. As for the Demons being the Narrm Football Club, it never was and never will be. Stick that in your pre-game pantomimes and smoking-ceremony it.
I barrack for Narrm, although God knows why; in three seasons of this stuff, we haven’t won a game as Narrm, despite being in the top 4 every year.
Well, Narrm warrn. Result.
Thanks a lot Phil! I was really enjoying a relaxing Sunday morning until now.
Semantically, Narrm doesn’t make sense. The name ‘Melbourne’ does not describe a geographical area although it encompasses many different areas, all of which would have been claimed and named separately by various Aboriginal clans. Many of its locations do in fact have Aboriginal names. Melbourne is the name of a city comprising various civic institutions – a concept unknown to pre-colonial Aborigines. The use of Narrm, therefore, is an ample of that horrendous crime – cultural appropriation.
Thank you Mr Shannon. Like so much of the death by a thousand cuts which old-school Australia is undergoing this pantomime over a fortnight could be brushed off as a gracious gesture towards a much weaker foe. But of course the international capitalist/communist alliance is using the aborigines and enforced worship of them, overwhelmingly by whites, to finish off piecemeal the real Australian nation and any idea of our ownership of this land. Look for the indigenous round to expand in future seasons. UNLESS there is a major decrement in ticket sales. Most unlikely.
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True patriots would do well to walk away from their sportsball addiction until such time as a full apology for the BLM nonsense is forthcoming and Adam Goodes admits his own role in the preceding drama. Not going to happen.
Exactly – walk away from sportsball and stop financing your enemies. It cannot have escaped anyone’s notice over the last 10 years that the corporate stratum has been ideologically captured. Until we can form or support counter-institutions divestiture should be a constant forethought.
I assume when the AFL does its long awaited “Southern European Round” to honour the fantastic Greeks, Yugos and Italians who made the game great in the 70s and 80s, team names will be changed as well: Syd-a-nay, Foot-a-scray, Santa Keelda, Mel-a-bon, Nota Mel-a-bon, spring to mind.
Iain, well said. I would like to add a Brokenhillite round as well to honour the contribution my fellow Brokenhillites have made to the game. When and where does this bastardisation and stupidity stop? So confusing.
Great point. So many people of immigrant origin have contributed a lot to the game.
It has been years since I’ve taken any kind of interest in AFL (and most sports) but I do remember all the names of yesteryear.
Great Article Phil Shannon – all those words and you refrained from mentioning the AFL’s outrageous support for the ‘Voice’ campaign – so they know that the masses don’t agree with them at least. It is very tiresome and humbling to have to put up with all the adolescent drivel and the bad art as well. But at least we have finally found something that the Aboriginal blokes can do well – and believe that they are still at war with the white fellas. Despite themselves they may learn their way to peace and happiness. Something very few Aboriginals have experienced and something quite worthwhile.
Phil, did you really mean to mention Coming of the Light? That’s the annual celebration by the Torres Strait Islanders of the introduction of Christianity to their islands in 1871 by missionaries of the London Missionary Society.
True Doug, The annual Coming of the Light celebrations were instituted by and continue to be enjoyed by Torres Strait Islanders.
Pre games festivities of the Richmond/Essendon game a good advert for Jenny Craig. Had Ahab been present he might have finally spiked a white whale or 2… So much blubber!
Well I think it only fair that the team with the most aboriginals be given 10 goals on their scoreboard before the game starts. What I can’t understand is why do the aboriginal players wear white man clothes, surely if you’re aboriginal then you wear only red nappies and no shoes on your feet. And would it not be more sensible to have all the umpires as naked aboriginal females and only dressed with a whistle in their hand. I just think it ridiculous that a game invented by aborigines and played throughout Australia since Dreamtime now has white men with no aboriginal ancestry wearing kindergarten finger painting motifs. This is true because Bruce Pascoe tells me all the truth and only he knows the origins of the afl and how white man was amazed to find the stadiums and infrastructure and the establishment of the rules and constitution were in full operation before colonisation. The main point that has changed with the game since colonisation is the aborigines were amateurs, since they worked in the public service Monday to Friday, played on Saturday and they all went to church on Sunday. Since captain cook arrived the game has degraded due to the white man bludgers who keep asking for handouts and recognition. One day the white fellas will wake up and do something like build roads and schools and health systems and stop messing with the aboriginal sporting culture.
With the level of ceremonial performance now, at everything from freeway openings to university graduations, etc, I am surprised they were able to find time to hunt and gather food or make shelter!
Who can forget the Manly players in the NRL refusing to wear the pink jerseys for the ‘Gay Round’
Of course not many people know that originally Aboriginal culture actually had a form of the AFL game in which a kangaroo head was tossed around and players with the head were speared or struck with boomerangs. Now that was a game!
Well said Phil. Thank you. You are not alone having a gutful of this racist crap.
I thought Narrm was just the barstardised Australian for Viet Nam and Melbourne was recognising the wonderful influence of the Vietnamese in that city and all the great Bahn Mi outlets.
I didn’t realise it was the dreaming and dot painters’ influence.
But I am a Queenslander.
Good one Ross. I too was struck by the similarity in pronunciation.
I was simply mystified by all those names. I didn’t know who was who. From small simple beginnings indigenous round has crescendoed into a orgy of symbols, ceremonies, rituals, and fables. It rivals the most sombre Vatican Mass. It is theatre at its folly best.
Thank God it is over. Tame it down for next year, please.
I was at the Richmond Essendon game. And took small delight in the comparison to the Anzac Eve game a few weeks prior. For the ANZACs, when lights were dimmed and the 80,000+ spectators asked to take their seats and put on their phone lights, the night was a silent spattered cloak of stars. Minutes of pounding stillness followed. At the Indigenous event, when the same was asked, there were at best a few hundred phone lights on. I bet the broadcast avoided that image! All around me people chatted and laughed. Many were standing and otherwise engaged – not watching. The silent majority find their way to reply. I felt proud to be Australian.
Not until the crowds at the AFL, Rugby, League and cricket, stand up and start singing the National Anthem over the top of all this concocted, divisive pre-game drivel will we be freed from the re-education camps that a day at the sport-of-your-choice has become. (well right up until we turn New Holland into New Caledonia)
While you can avoid the pre-game pain on the TV, putting up with the sycophantic, slimy, sniveling, commentators on Fox League over the weekend was vomit-inducing stuff.
What a woke organisation the AFL has become mainly under Gil MacLachan.If he gets his hands on racing the Melbourne Cup will be changed.Only indigenous jockeys allowed to ride??
I watched the game on Saturday night.A group of overweight painted males dancing with the younger ones learning on the job.It looked silly and so unnecessary.I wondered when the game was due to start.
Woke AFL get rid of Dreamtime,Gay Pride and all other political statements and get your game in order and bounce the ball.
Totally agree. The patronising Stone Age imagery is an insult and embarrassment to all Australians. Maclachan has got the game into such a dumb political corner that it is a challenge to support or follow the game anymore. Racism and Segregation should not be parameters of the sport but that’s where it is now.
I can’t handle it anymore. I have stopped watching Australian Rules footy for good. I follow UK, European or American sports . The more that corporations and governments in Australia patronise the living daylights out of me, the more I turn back to the culture of my ancestry. Anything Australian, I know I am going to get the brainwashing, so I avoid it.
Sorry footy fans but the professional competitions are rubbish and have been for a while. Money, video, and power-politics, pretty much in that order, is the name of the game. Footy? Phhttt. Don’t be silly.
If you love the game, head out Saturday arvo to watch the local league, and buy beers and a pie to put money into the club coffers. Now that’s real footy, not that televised garbage.
Thank goodness for someone speaking out about this stupidity and craven behaviour of the AFL. I cannot understand real followers of the game accepting the re-naming of their clubs so passively. The pre-game entertainment, as I saw it on tv, was embarrassing and must be cringe-making for any genuine Aborigine who saw it; it was blackface performance of the worst kind.
However, Bruce Pascoe and his many proud supporters will be rubbing their palms in glee. It seems that Dark Emu indoctrination, plus remembering the Ularu Statement has finally won in the battle for young minds. So much for a referendum.
I saw some of the NRL games over the weekend and was dismayed by the grandiose play acting and carrying on before each game. One that caught my eye was the dancing and prancing by a group of apparent white guys. They certainly looked that way, and it was difficult to assess further as they were covered in white paint over most of their bodies. Couldn’t see any value in that. Another lot had feathers everywhere and looked as if they had been watching too many old Hollywood movies based on cowboys and Indians. I’m not against some form of recognition, perhaps in a lower key and not being over-repetitive, but all of this was too much for me. Fortunately the mute button worked well during these noisy introductions. Some of the games proved to be of a good standard in terms of competition. For that, the many players of South Pacific heritage deserve some recognition, although they do seem to be taking over in terms of numbers. Our indigenous players might start to grumble about that soon.
I’m 72 years old, accepted the fact that I was ‘different ‘ when I was at the beach looking at young men and thinking, ‘Yummy, Yummy ‘ at the age of 8.. Went to one football match when I was 10. Was bored stiff. .Never been to one since. . Occasionally see a clip on the internet. Also notice the media coverage, which I ignore. Except for one thing. ALF male football is woke. Tolerant and inclusive. However….? And the openly gay players are? Are there any openy gay male AFL footballers? When I was a young 8 year old boy at the beach and I looked and thought ‘ Yummy Yummy ‘, sometimes when I see the fellows in tight shorts and skimpy vests I think, ‘ Mmmm, their wives or girl friends are lucky. ‘
I ask, ‘openly ‘.
That photo on the link to this page, where all the non-Aborigines from the Richmond team are kneeling before their standing Aboriginal masters, has got to be the most cringe worthy photo I have ever seen in football. Utterly shameful.
I must say that as a long-standing fan of Aussie Rules football, I found the indigenous round far more comic than anything that barely approaches being able to be taken seriously. The lengths to which the AFL peak body went to in order to signal some set of alleged ‘virtues’, that apparently include caring about our ATSI people, was a dismal failure. So what now? Well, we go back to each club’s usual well-known names and jerseys, having dabbled in the now all-too-familiar ritual of feeding the angry woke beast that demands occasional lip service to race. All this at a time when we all thought that we weren’t focussed on race, but rather pulling together, at a time of national economic stringency, as a society for the common good. But no. Wokism has no truck with the idea behind utilitarianism (‘the greatest good for the greatest number’) at all. Instead, wokism, which is just fascism reframed, demands that the majority pander to, fund and worship people, not on the basis of need, achievement or talent, but race. But wait there’s more. The peak sporting bodies, the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), Big e-Sister (the e-safety Commissioner), the left wing coalition government and especially Mr Dreyfus all have a surprise in store for a rather unwitting Australian public: the federal “human rights Bill”. I say ‘unwitting’ as more than two-thirds of all Australian voters, including a healthy proportion of our ATSI people, scotched the purported voice “referendum”. This Bill, if it becomes law, will have the effect of legislating our country into institutionalised apartheid, giving ATSI people rights as a “First Nations group” because of race, not need, and arm an unelected government department (the AHRC) with the power to enforce conformity (aka ‘compliance’) with the Bill, once it is enacted, into the bargain. Whilst the promoters of so much tripe all think themselves terribly “progressive”, this step will be as regressive and divisive as the AFL pretending to care for a round or two about ATSI people is with the fans. You might think it a sad day when sporting bodies pretend to be concerned for people. But that’s stand-up comedy compared to what is to come once the federal Human Rights Act takes its toll on your taxes and you can’t even go for a drive without being stopped as vast swathes of your country are now off-limits because of some claim that renders you ‘Welsh’: ‘a stranger in your own land’. This country is what it is based on the whole idea of the Commonwealth and a fair go for all. Once you dismantle and chip away at the ‘common-weal’ or common good of a nation for all people, and replace it with the leg up and the hand out based on race, you have just subscribed to Hitler’s solution to Germany’s crisis of the 1930s for Australia: far right wing fascism, all brought to you courtesy of the Albanese Labor government. Hitler rose to power on a left wing platform (Google what “NAZI” stands for and means if you don’t believe me) and took Germany to the far right, once elected Chancellor. The parallel with Albanese and his government, and all those fawning acolytes in sport, who think their opinion is worth powder and shot, is chilling.
This bill is frightening, I am afraid something will be forced of me or upon me that will make me have a breakdown. This Albanese government needs to be voted out. All arrogant ministers and advisors wasting time and money on agenda re-forming of people, meanwhile my 67 year old father has been on the waiting list for 3 months now for his age pension application! Surviving on a few hundred dollars a week from superannuation. Shame on this current Labor government, it knew damn well hundreds of thousands of Australians are hit 67 (retirement age) and beyond and they have done stuff all. What are they doing in the ACT? They can’t even approve and pay pensions! I call on all Australian voters to avoid voting for any Labor, Green or Teal.
Those behind this nonsense are all Lamington Aboriginals – whites with a light dusting of Aboriginality, mostly confected.
I’ve started to hear people talking about “Lamingtons” and it seems like the perfect word, indigenous to Australia, for describing fauxboriginals who are only after two things – money and power.
The poor, much abused lamington. As you say GG, our beloved cake now used as a term of derision for fauxboriginals. The assault on one of our treasured national icons began some decades ago when the ‘good idea’ brigade (good for whom?)desecrated the desiccated, scrumptious treat BY PUTTING BLOODY JAM IN IT!
There is no jam in a lamington just as there is no aboriginality in so many of the moaners who claim there is.
See the connection? Once you change the goal posts on a fundamental foundation, any and everything can be up for grabs. So – I don’t buy lamingtons with jam in them, and I don’t give a toss about aboriginal grievances. If it ain’t authentic, I’m not buying it.
With all the hype and propaganda via buzz-phrases and words regarding the Indigenous and their “longest continuous culture” , their “stories” and “Traditional ceremonies” and the contrived name changing , I have to ask … Exactly WHAT culture do they wish to promote and preserve , and If they’re SO proud of their heritage , why do practically ALL the famous players have white (usually blond ) wives , and would these wives be happy to live as traditional Aboriginals? Just asking .