Possibly jealous that rugby union was cornering the market on leftist virtue-signalling, league players are jumping on the ‘woke’ bandwagon. Taking their cue from American publicity-hound second-rater Colin Kaepernick, a group of players are determined to test the patience of fans with an unpatriotic hissy-fit at the State of Origin.
Cody Walker will not sing the Australian national anthem before next week’s State of Origin opener in Brisbane, but says the decision is “just my opinion” and not intended to spark a wider movement.
Walker, who is set to make his New South Wales debut at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday, was one of several players who remained tight-lipped during a rendition of Advance Australia Fair at the Indigenous All-Stars game in Melbourne earlier this year.
The fact that these overpaid brats get an entire game to pander to their hurty feelings ironically undermines the reason for their little tanty. Australia spends four times as much money on Aboriginal Australians than on anyone else. The education and health care opportunities are there, should people choose to take them. But it’s a lot easier for activists to whinge about an anthem than it is to confront hard questions about why Aboriginal communities are blighted by truancy, alcoholism and child abuse.
“The stand the team took on not singing the national anthem […] it was like it was just brushed over,” [former Queensland player Johnathan] Thurston told Fairfax. “They did that and there wasn’t really any discussion to come out of that, even though it was a stand they took for themselves and their family.”]
In other words, they didn’t get the attention they so desperately crave, so their going to shake their little fists and hold their little bweafs some more.
Walker’s protest has echoes of Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand for the US national anthem before NFL games.
theguardian
Here’s hoping his career takes the same trajectory. If he’d quoted the Bible, though, his career would be over tomorrow.