Fox League’s Jake Duke opens up on the Voice and rugby league

Fox League’s Jake Duke has described the NRL’s support of the Voice to Parliament as a ‘no-brainer’, ahead of Indigenous Round.

Jake Duke reporting at the 2022 Dally M Medal. Pics by Julian Andrews.

Fox League reporter Jake Duke has described the NRL’s support of the Voice to Parliament and a Yes campaign in the upcoming referendum as a “no-brainer”, ahead of the league’s Indigenous Round, and says people who say sport and politics don’t mix “haven’t really been paying attention for the last 70 years”.

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Speaking exclusively to news.com.au, Duke, a proud Kamilaroi man, said the NRL does a “fantastic job embracing Indigenous Australia.”

“I think it was a no-brainer,” Duke said, speaking exclusively to news.com.au.

Duke has used his platform to shine a spotlight on Indigenous issues in the sport. Fox Sports / Brett Costello

“I remember someone asked me probably six months ago, whether I thought the NRL would support the Voice, and I looked at them like ‘are you serious?’

“It was never going to be anything other than them supporting the Voice.

“The NRL, I think, does a fantastic job embracing Indigenous Australia, Indigenous athletes, the issues in the broader community, probably better than any other sporting organisation.

“You’ve seen the way they’ve embraced people like Latrell Mitchell, Greg Inglis, Johnathan Thurston over the years, not just their talents, but the issues they want to bring to light.

“They’ve always supported them, and I think for the most part, NRL fans have as well.”

Asked about whether he believed the clubs were on board with a Yes campaign ahead of an impending referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, Duke was unequivocal.

“The sentiment around the clubs is, I think everyone’s on board. I think it’s a no-brainer,” he said.

“Indigenous athletes have had such an effect on the NRL – 13 per cent of the playing group is Indigenous, which is obviously proportionately way higher than the (broader) population.

“I think there was even a point where I remember close to 50 per cent of the Kangaroos starting side, back in the day with Thurston and Inglis and Thaiday, was Indigenous.

“The most prominent Indigenous people in Australian society are (sportspeople), and I think a lot of them have been NRL players driving the agenda, pushing things forward and wearing the brunt of it as well.

“Without the NRL and some of those guys, I honestly think we’d be much further behind than where we are.”

Rabbitohs star Latrell Mitchell (pictured centre) has copped racial abuse in his time in the NRL. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Asked about the recent decision by ACT Rugby to avoid taking a position on the referendum, and the concept that sporting organisations should “stick to sport”, Duke said those who thought sport and politics don’t mix weren’t aware of the history of sport or politics.

“I’ve heard that before – people that say sport and politics don’t mix haven’t really been paying attention for the last 70 years, because I think sport has had more of an effect on politics than almost any other facet of society,” he said.

“When you look at progression and social change, you look at athletes and when you talk on a broader scale, athletes like Muhammad Ali in the US and just the civil rights movement (being) pushed along by athletes standing up for what they believe in.

“Then you come to Australia … even Cathy Freeman carrying the Indigenous flag, you know, people had a problem with that 20 years ago.

“So to say that, I think, is burying your head in the sand a little bit.”

Indigenous Sport Month returns for a third straight year to continue its goal of celebrating and elevating the rich history, and future, of Indigenous sport in Australia.

Duke said that the issue of constitutional recognition wasn’t political for an Aboriginal man like himself.

“For me, I’m not really able to understand why Aboriginal people shouldn’t be recognised in the Constitution of this country,” he said.

“It’s not really a political viewpoint for me – it’s more common sense.

“We’re the oldest living culture in the world, and one of the only civilised nations that were colonised that don’t have some sort of recognition of its First Nations people in its constitution.”

Former Gold Coast Titan Preston Campbell is credited with creating the idea of the All Stars match. Pic Annette Dew

Australia remains the only Commonwealth nation to have never signed a treaty with its indigenous people, with treaties established early on in the colonial history of dominions such as New Zealand, Canada and the United States.

“I just think it’s (a Voice to Parliament) something we’re behind on,” Duke says.

“It’s something that’s the least we can do, that Indigenous people are consulted on issues that are pertinent to them.

“In my mind, that’s a no-brainer.

“I don’t understand the opposition to that, and I always ask people (that have a problem with it) why – ‘answer me, how this is going to change your life.’

“And no one can ever give me a good answer.

“It was similar with the same-sex marriage vote in Australia.

“I always ask the question, ‘how does this affect you?’

“If they’re not Indigenous, or they’re not gay or lesbian, the answer would be ‘ah, well, it really doesn’t.’

“Well, it has a profound effect on a lot of people. I don’t understand why (people are) concerning (themselves) with something that really has no effect on (their) life – but it can have a really positive effect on other people’s lives.

“I don’t understand why (non-Indigenous) people would care about sporting organisations taking a viewpoint.

“These sporting organisations immerse themselves in Aboriginal culture – the Aboriginal culture has given them so much. The least they can do is supposed, I think, the bare minimum of what we can do as a country to make Aboriginal people feel accepted and valued and like they belong on their own land.”

NRL boss Andrew Abdo, pictured speaking ahead of the NRL’s Indigenous Round this week. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Asked about the biggest issues pertaining to Indigenous stakeholders in the sport at the moment, Duke said that while racism is still “really problematic at times”, the NRL largely has “done a fantastic job embracing the Indigenous community”.

“There’s obviously still the racial aspect that’s reared its head that’s problematic at times, when we see guys like Latrell Mitchell and others, Jack Wighton being targeted because of their Aboriginal heritage, and people not liking the kind of ‘out loud’ blackfella who says what he feels and raises these issues and sometimes holds a mirror up to society a little bit,” he said.

“But I think for the most part, the NRL, they don’t get everything right, but one thing they’ve gotten right and watching it my whole life growing up, I think they’ve done a fantastic job embracing the Indigenous community and the things they do.

“The news summits – I started my career in school to work program for Indigenous kids set up by the NRL and the Gold Coast Titans.

“That’s how I got my first opportunity to work, as a cadetship, and then work at the Titans, which got me a job at Channel 9, which got me a job at Fox Sports.

“So the NRL’s been doing this for a long time.

“It kind of all based around what (former Gold Coast halfback) Preston Campbell started with the All Stars concept, and then what it’s fed into with Indigenous Round and things like that.

“I can’t be more complimentary about the NRL in terms of the way its handled Indigenous issues. We’ve seen other codes maybe not do it as well, and I really don’t think the NRL has had, thankfully, a booing issue on the kind of scale that the AFL did, but I think for the most part, when these issues have arisen, they have handled them swiftly.

“We saw the Latrell Mitchell thing earlier this year, and (saw) how quick they would act, how quick the game was to condemn it.”

Duke and colleague Lara Pitt covered the Dally M Awards last year for Fox League. Pics by Julian Andrews.

Duke said rugby league was in a unique position to embrace Indigenous communities.

“I think as a game, rugby league embraces culture,” he said.

“Even if you look at the All Stars game, I don’t know if there’s another sport in the world that does a cultural celebration like that, where you have two of these old surviving cultures, some of the oldest in the world, celebrated playing in a game like that, a week like that, that not only embraces it and puts it up on a pedestal but also asks the question – how can we make things better for you?

“It’s just the collectiveness in the way that everyone kind of embraces Indigenous culture in the NRL, and realises the importance of it and realises that we all play a part in making a difference to the Indigenous community outside of the game.”

Every game of Indigenous Round is LIVE in HD, with no ad-breaks in play on Fox League.