By Peter Ryan and Carla Jaeger
Melbourne Storm have attempted to pour cold water on reports they will scrap the Welcome to Country ceremonies, after confirming they are in discussions with Indigenous groups over changes to the way Indigenous culture is acknowledged at home games.
The club released a statement on Sunday following an article in the Sunday Herald Sun that reported the club would no longer hold regular Welcome to Country ceremonies.
Aunty Joy Murphy performs a Welcome to Country before a Storm home game in the 2022 Indigenous round.Credit: Getty Images
The Storm said they were seeking input from communities to “find the most appropriate and respectful way to acknowledge and celebrate culture, including how we best acknowledge First Nations people”.
The club, which has become one of Australia’s most respected since joining the NRL in 1997, said in a statement it would “continue these acknowledgments at culturally significant celebrations”.
The Storm held Welcome to Country ceremonies ahead of their annual Anzac Day and Indigenous Round clashes in 2024.
“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 statement said.
“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.”
Welcome to Country ceremonies are led by Indigenous people while acknowledgment to Country can be conducted by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
State government minister Danny Pearson spoke to media on Sunday.Credit: Chris Hopkins
In September, Geelong dual AFL premiership player Mathew Stokes wrote in a column for this masthead that “a debate among Aboriginal people about Welcome to Country ceremonies is legitimate, particularly on how it is delivered.”
On Sunday, Victorian Assistant Treasurer Danny Pearson said the decision was ultimately a choice for Melbourne Storm, but gave his personal view.
“I personally have always believed the importance of acknowledging the connection that First Nations people had to this land ... that doesn’t seem to me to be a particularly radical notion. It’s about respect, and it’s about recognising that for tens of thousands of years, First Nations people cared for this country,” Pearson said.
The club faced a backlash last year after it was revealed one of its owners, Brett Ralph, had donated $175,000 to the group behind the No campaign for the Voice referendum.
Melbourne Storm publicly supported the Voice during the referendum campaign, and the NRL backed the Yes vote in May 2023.
The league also holds an annual Indigenous round.
Ralph’s six-figure donation to the conservative group Advance Australia prompted Yorta Yorta man and rapper Adam Briggs to question the legitimacy of Storm’s support for Indigenous people. Briggs had further criticisms for the club on social media posts on Sunday, following the latest media reports.
Donation registers revealed that Ralph contributed an additional $50,000 to Australians for Unity, the No campaign’s fundraising vehicle.
Melbourne Storm have emerging Indigenous players in their development programs led by Stanley Huen and Gabriel Satrick, and long-standing partnerships with local Indigenous organisations, such as Dardi Munwurro, and conduct a school-to-work program.
The AFL made no comment when contacted about the reports relating to Melbourne Storm and whether it had any plans to make any changes to when Welcome To Country ceremonies were held.
The AFL holds Welcome to Country ceremonies in the men’s season before each final and each game in Sir Doug Nicholls Round, as well as some marquee matches and functions, such as the Brownlow Medal count, but the ceremony is not performed before every match.
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