Tennis great John Newcombe slams opposition to Australia Day celebrations
Aussie tennis great John Newcombe says he will proudly celebrate Australia Day, slamming decisions from major sporting bodies to ignore the holiday.
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Tennis legend John Newcombe has slammed opposition to people celebrating Australia Day, with the Australian Open and Cricket Australia set to snub our national holiday.
Newcombe, who chaired the National Australia Day Council from 1990-92, said Aussie pride should take precedence over moves to silence the January 26 public holiday.
“Well, I’ll be celebrating it,’’ he said.
“I can’t stop anyone else what they want to do but I’ll certainly be celebrating it because I’m very proud to be an Australian and proud of what I’ve achieved.’’
In an exclusive interview with the Herald Sun, Newcombe said moves to ignore Australia Day during the Australian Open and the Brisbane Test on Friday flew in the face of last year’s referendum about whether to change the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia.
“Don’t get me started,’’ he said.
“I think all these people that are acting like that – the answer came in the referendum.
“Sixty per cent of Australians think you’re full of s..t.’’
The Herald Sun last week revealed Australia Day would not be celebrated at Melbourne Park, in a move Aussie tennis star turned state MP Sam Groth branded “pretty disappointing’’.
Cricket Australia this week announced it would avoid the term “Australia Day” and captain Pat Cummins called to change the date in respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who view Australia Day as “Invasion Day”.
A winner of seven Grand Slam singles titles, Newcombe said debate over whether to change the date went back to the 1980s.
“There was huge discussion about it and we looked at every possible date,’’ he said.
“If you wanted a change well could you change it and we came back to where it is.
“We had a couple of leading Indigenous people on the council and we couldn’t come up with a date that everybody could be happy with.
“So it’s been looked at left, right and centre – all the different dates that you could have – and you’re always going to find people that object to it.
“So, gees, just be happy of where we live and what a great country it is.’’
Newcombe, whose name is honoured on Australian tennis’ greatest individual annual medal, said he felt patriotic often, even getting a tear in his eye while recently watching an Aussie Olympics preview on TV recently.
“It just made me feel so proud to be Australian,’’ he said.
“They can have it any day they want – whatever – if they are going to call it Australia Day I’m going to be really proud to be there and I’m not going to argue about it.’’
It comes after a Roy Morgan poll this week found more than two-thirds of Australians (68.5 per cent) say January 26 should stay Australia Day – up 4.5 per cent from a year ago.
Only 31.5 per cent (down 4.5 per cent) say January 26 should be called “Invasion Day”.
More than 58.5 per cent said the date of Australia Day should stay the same.
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