New South Wales Origin coach Brad Fittler backs anthem boycott
Blues coach Brad Fittler has opened up on rugby league’s anthem debate, Latrell Mitchell and using State of Origin as a protest platform.
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NSW Origin coach Brad Fittler has vowed to support any indigenous Blues players who wish to remain silent for Advance Australia Fair in 2020, saying: “Our anthem, it definitely needs work”.
Speaking with The Saturday Telegraph in Taree, where he has spent much of this week visiting communities ravaged by bushfire, Fittler talked candidly about the ongoing divide between the anthem and some of rugby league’s biggest Aboriginal superstars.
Earlier this month, it was revealed the song could potentially be scrapped from the annual All Stars match next February after a motion by an NRL indigenous advisory group.
Roosters premiership star Latrell Mitchell recently suggested the Blues “went funny” on indigenous players who stayed silent during Origin I.
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Yet while both Mitchell and Cody Walker were subsequently dropped after NSW lost the series opener, other indigenous players such as Blake Ferguson, Jack Wighton, Wade Graham and Josh Addo-Carr all eventually helped to claim a second straight title.
While Fittler has already expressed disappointment with Mitchell’s anthem comment, the coach insisted he would have no problem with any player staying silent throughout the 2020 series.
Asked if he took issue with players using State of Origin as a platform for anthem protest, Fittler told The Saturday Telegraph: “No, not at all. And personally, I also think our anthem could improve.
“I’ve got my own opinions on it — which I will give at some stage in the future – but I definitely think it could improve without doubt.
“While I enjoy singing (Advance Australia Fair), you go to any venue around the country and three-quarters of the people aren’t singing.
“I’ve been to stadiums in England where you can’t hear yourself think when their anthem is sung, people really are that loud.
“But here, a lot of people don’t sing. I think our anthem, it definitely needs work.”
Fittler also revealed that prior to Origin I this year, Mitchell, Walker and Addo-Carr all addressed the team at a private meeting to explain why they would be remaining silent for Advance Australia Fair.
“We had a really great moment in camp where those three players all spoke about the anthem and why they wouldn’t be singing,” Fittler said. “And it was really evident, their reasons, which everyone understood.”
The coach also said that while he disagreed with Mitchell’s recent choice of words in an NRL.com interview, he could at least understand why they had been said by the rising star, with whom he caught up on Wednesday evening.
Fittler and Mitchell laughed, joked, even posed together for photos over beers and pizza at the Old Bar Tavern, among a big group that included Roosters coach Trent Robinson and premiership players Boyd Cordner, Angus Crichton and Mitch Aubusson.
“I think the fact is there was such a big deal made out of (the anthem boycott) and then everyone tried to get stories from that,” Fittler said. “That ends up sticking in the players’ heads.
“And that’s natural … for that to come back when you’re trying to search for an answer under pressure.”
Originally published as New South Wales Origin coach Brad Fittler backs anthem boycott