Israel’s lesson for rugby league as Blues teammates boycott anthem

Rugby league can learn much from the Israel Folau (main picture) scandal, as indigenous Blues players Josh Addo-Carr, left and Cody Walker prepare to boycott the national anthem ahead of next Wednesday’s Sate of Origin. Main picture: Getty/ Inset/AAP

The lessons to be learned from the sorry Israel Folau affair are many, but not the least of them is that you mess with the right to freedom of speech at your peril.

It’s an inherent human right that all of us should be able to voice an opinion without censorship, fear or punishment. What’s more, we should be able to keep our mouths shut as well if we wish.

Which is exactly what NSW State of Origin players Cody Walker and Josh Addo-Carr will do when they decline to sing the national anthem before Game I next Wednesday.

Addo-Carr and Walker — and several other indigenous players by the sound of things — will keep their mouths shut during the singing of Advance Australia Fair.

They will be expressing the view that it does not represent indigenous people and attempting to provoke a debate about potential changes to the anthem.

Neither of them sang the anthem before the Indigenous All Stars game in February. “I am a proud Australian man but a proud Indigenous man, too,” Addo-Carr has said. “If it’s not going to stand for my people, why should I sing it?”

Walker and Addo-Carr have won the support of NRL legend Johnathan Thurston, who says he is surprised by the lack of discussion their stand in February generated.

Not everyone will agree with this position. The national anthem provokes strong passions and many believe that all Australians should take every opportunity to sing it. Particularly athletes representing their fellow Australians.

But you don’t have to agree with them to support their right to express their view. Just as you didn’t have to agree with Folau’s pronouncement that homosexuals would burn in hell to respect his right to his opinion.

We live in a society that has moved on from the days when Folau’s view of the world predominated. But to sack him for expressing it was a massive over-reaction.

Engage with him by all means. Explain the pain he is causing to young people struggling with their sexuality and make it clear that you don’t find what he is saying is acceptable. But that should have been the end of it.

Australian rugby has lost one of its best players, certainly its most potent attacking weapon, because of a failure to adhere to one of the most important principles of a democratic society.

Hopefully wiser heads will prevail in rugby league.