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By Reuters
Last Updated: 29/05/19 7:07am
Aboriginal Australian rugby league player Cody Walker will not sing the national anthem before the State of Origin opener in Brisbane next week, but says he does not intend to spark a wider movement.
The South Sydney Rabbitohs player, set to debut for New South Wales in the annual series against Queensland, was also among players who declined to sing “Advance Australia Fair” before the start of the Indigenous All Stars game in February.
Walker told Fairfax Media: “I’m not pushing my views on anyone, it’s just how me and my family have grown up and how I feel. I’ve already voiced my opinion, and I want to reiterate it’s just my opinion.”
Indigenous people, who number 700,000 of Australia’s population of 24million, lived on the continent for an estimated 60,000 years before British colonists claimed possession in 1770.
Dispossessed of their sovereignty, Aboriginal Australians suffered a litany of human rights abuses including massacres and the forcible removal of children from their families by government agencies until late into the 20th century.
Walker’s stance was backed by former league great Johnathan Thurston, who said not enough discussion had come out of the silent protest before the All Stars game.
“The stand the team took on not singing the national anthem; it was like it was just brushed over,” Thurston, an indigenous player capped 38 times for the national side, told Fairfax Media.
“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.
“I thought it was great leadership by the team. Cody Walker came out after the game and said the national anthem doesn’t represent him or his family, and that was pretty much the end of it.”
Walker’s protest has raised echoes of Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand for the USA’s national anthem before NFL games, which sparked a national debate about racial injustice and drew the ire of president Donald Trump.
New South Wales coach Brad Fittler said it was Taylor’s decision whether he sung the anthem or not, but added: “I’ll be singing it.”
