‘What we stand for as a club’: Melbourne Storm’s big Welcome to Country move

One of the NRL’s biggest clubs has made a massive call when it comes to Welcome to Country ceremonies before their games.

NRL heavyweights the Melbourne Storm have announced the club will review regular Welcome to Country ceremonies and potentially even celebrate other cultures before games.

Earlier on Sunday, The Herald Sun reported the club had privately decided to scrap many of its Welcome to Country ceremonies, saying: “We’re really keen to let our actions (rather than words) reflect what we stand for as a club in the community”.

Win the Ultimate Vegas Experience with Fletch & Hindy including a helicopter tour over the Grand Canyon, NRL Merch pack & VIP experience at NRL 360 in Vegas. Purchase a ticket for Rugby League in Las Vegas to enter for your chance to win.

The club reportedly pulled back on the tradition earlier this season and, after receiving no fanfare, decided to reassess how they acknowledge Indigenous culture at home games.

On Sunday afternoon, CODE Sports reported Storm management would “undertake a cultural planning review for 2025 to determine how often Welcome to Country, where an elder performs the on-field custom, will be used”.

The club will reportedly continue with the Welcome to Country for the NRL’s Indigenous Round and Anzac Day, but any other events will likely come under review.

Last season, the Storm had just three Welcome to Country ceremonies.

The club is also reportedly considering acknowledging international cultures and the backgrounds of its players next season with the cultures of Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and New Zealand cultures represented in the club.

A Storm statement read: “Melbourne Storm is not ‘ditching’ its Welcome to Country or Acknowledgments as suggested by recent media. We will continue these acknowledgments at culturally significant celebrations.

“The strength and success of our club is built on many cultures and communities, and our engagement with them has helped us to reflect the differing views on how we best support and represent each group.

“We will continue to talk to these communities and seek their input to find the most appropriate and respectful way to acknowledge and celebrate culture, including how we best acknowledge First Nations people.

“The club will continue to support First Nations community groups and organisations, as it has done for many years, delivering programs and initiatives that promote positive health, welfare and education outcomes.”

Aunty Joy Murphy speaking before a 2022 clash at AAMI Park. Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

The news comes a week after the Juru People of North Queensland voted to ban Welcome to Country ceremonies on their ancestral land because they find the ceremony embarrassing.

Locals have also raised concerns about how the tradition has been commercialised.

“The elders have had enough,” spokesman Randall Ross said on 4BC Mornings with Bill McDonald.

“It is being abused and they want to put a stop to it.”

While the elders remain committed to protecting their land, Mr Ross explained that the Welcome to Country process had become a business that many were uncomfortable with due to money being made by those who were not connected to the land in any meaningful way.

Burdekin Mayor Pierina Dalle Cort also welcomed the decision.

“I can’t get into a political nightmare here but all I can say is I’m happy to work with the traditional owners,” she said via the Newscorp masthead.

“We had the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ vote (Voice referendum) and that vote should have been listened to at that time as well. We’re multicultural, we’re one country and we’ve all got to learn to live and work together.

“It’ll probably be an early Christmas present to a lot of people. I’ve already had some responses from people saying things like finally common sense has prevailed, basically.”

Indigenous leader and vocal commentator Warren Mundine also applauded the Jurus’ decision, saying Welcome to Country ceremonies had already become “a cliche” that have lost their meaning.

Mr Mundine previously called the Welcome to Country a “beautiful idea” but claimed it had started to turn into a “very divisive political push”.

Those comments came after AFL semi-final at ENGIE Stadium in Sydney which saw the GWS Giants loss to eventual premiers the Brisbane Lions.

Before the match, cultural educator from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council Brendan Kerin sparked a storm for his comments.

Brendan Kerin was slammed over his comments. Photo: FOX SPORTS

“A Welcome to Country is not a welcome to Australia. Within Australia we have many Aboriginal lands and we refer to our lands as ‘country’,” Kerin said.

“So it’s always a welcome to the lands you’ve gathered on.

“A Welcome to Country is not a ceremony we’ve invented to cater for white people.

“It’s a ceremony we’ve been doing for 250,000 years-plus BC. And the BC stands for Before Cook.”

Amid the backlash One Nation leader Pauline Hanson called for an end to Welcome to Country, claiming it was “one of the most racially divisive features of modern discourse in Australia”.

Collingwood great Tony Shaw also blasted Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley copping a $20,000 fine after a cheeky stoush with Hawthorn players.

Shaw wrote on X: “What a weak politically correct organisation the AFL is.

“$20k fine for verbal taunts same as actual physical contact. The political decisiveness (divisiveness) of welcome to country last night was embarrassing but any public rebuke?”

Channel 9 Footy Show host Tony Jones also called out the AFL over the Welcome to Country telling 3AW: “If this is all designed to sort of unify Australia, I think it’s creating division when we see or hear welcomes like that.”

The Storm have scrapped the Welcome to Country. Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Similarly, two-time AFL premiership winner Matthew Stokes penned a column in The Age, writing: “Welcome to Country should be a beautiful, respectful ceremony that unites us as we reflect on Australia’s extraordinary history which stretches long before white settlement.

“Instead, it’s becoming divisive and, to be honest, I can understand why many people are confused by its purpose, as the AFL finals coverage broadcasts the ceremonies to millions of football fans.”

While the Storm won’t have regular Welcome to Country ceremonies, the club has recently announced a new community strategy with First Nations, Pasificka and All Abilities communities a priority.

The Storm will also host an annual Men’s Gathering at AAMI Park for Aboriginal men across Australia.

The club will also have a full-time resource in its office for a School to Work program in order to help First Nations students to transition from education to employment.

Originally published as ‘What we stand for as a club’: Melbourne Storm’s big Welcome to Country move