Scott Morrison praises NRL for backflip on singing national anthem at State of Origin

Scott Morrison praises the move to have the national anthem performed, and having an ‘adult conversation’ about it.

Blues players line up for the national anthem ahead of game two of last year’s series

Scott Morrison has praised the NRL on its handling of the move to scrap the national anthem ahead of the State of Origin, saying he appreciates being able to have an “adult conversation” before it was overturned.

“I contacted Peter, it was all very open and friendly and I really appreciate, you know, him hearing he out and he feels very strongly about the fans and what the fans would want to occur and I appreciate him reconsidering that decision and talking to his commissioners and coming to a different view very, very quickly,” the Prime Minister told 2GB.

“I appreciate the way they handled that. I like the fact you can pick up the phone and have an adult conversation about this.

“You said there’s never been a more important time to celebrate by singing the national anthem.”

It was a decision 12 months in the making that only survived one hour of public scrutiny and an angry PM.

The future of the national anthem in rugby league has been a delicate discussion point at NRL headquarters for the past year — ever since Indigenous stars Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker and Josh Addo-Carr spoke of boycotting the anthem before the opening game of the series last year.

The NRL goes out of its way to appear to be inclusive. That’s why the anthem has been raised at almost every commission meeting since last year.

Then on Wednesday afternoon it became decision time. The commissioners voted unanimously to scrap the anthem for the Origin series, just three days after they had played it at the grand final at ANZ Stadium.

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They would not announce it and hoped no one would even pick it up in Adelaide on Wednesday night.

But the story was leaked to The Daily Telegraph about noon on Thursday and all hell broke loose.

It sparked the most ferocious public backlash from fans and a phone call from Morrison to V’landys urging the ARL Commission chairman to overturn the decision. In an online poll, 89 per cent of more than 7000 voters voiced their disapproval.

V’landys then rang each of the commissioners to urge them to reconsider.

Then came the backflip — the anthem would be sung.

The Prime Minister’s office was straight on the phone. “This is a welcome decision by the NRL,” Morrison said. “The NRL have done the right thing by listening to their fans and acting quickly to overturn their choice not to play the national anthem.

“We have all faced a year of struggle and heartbreak and it has never been more important to be coming together to celebrate Australia and to be able to sing together our national anthem at the game so many of us love.”

V’landys has been a passionate supporter of Indigenous players and their views since he joined the NRL. He has had one-on-one and group meetings with the likes of Mitchell and other stars.

But he declared when replacing Peter Beattie as commission chairman late last year that fans were his No 1 priority.

“It was never intended to be a political statement,” V’landys said. “I’ve always said we’ll listen to our fans and it’s obvious the fans want the anthem.”

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo maintained the ARLC’s original decision was never politically motivated and was based on celebrating the interstate rivalry between NSW and Queensland.

“We didn’t do it to create controversy and it wasn’t a politically motivated decision, it was based on the fact whether we thought it was appropriate to play the ­national anthem at which games,” Abdo said.

“I wouldn’t say we have caved into pressure, I would say that it’s been unexpected, the issue and the divisiveness that this has created, and that wasn’t the intention.

“As soon as this did become a divisive issue, the decision that the commission made was to revert to playing the national anthem for State of Origin.”

Additional reporting Jocelyn Airth