Sport will always divide opinions when it weighs into politics | Graham Cornes

The response to Cricket Australia’s efforts to water down our patriotic pride show why sport needs to stay out of politics, writes Graham Cornes.

I celebrated Australia Day on Friday. There, I’ve said it. The captain of our national cricket team was not going to dilute my patriotic pride.

I even raised the white ensign, the Australian flag that our naval ships fly. Sure, it’s a breach of protocol, as only navy ships and naval bases can fly it, but it’s a tribute to my uncle Hector, Dad’s younger brother, who served in the navy in World War 2.

He was somewhat of a loner, and in the true family tradition, he was always in trouble, being in and out of the brig, but he loved Australia.

He is long gone, but I wonder what he would have thought of these continual assaults on our patriotism.

Cricket Australia refuses to refer to this match in Brisbane as the Australia Day Test. It follows a concerning trend in recent years to phase out references to Australia Day.

Australian Test captain Pat Cummins. Picture: Liam Kidston

One wonders if the fact that Cricket Australia’s chief executive, Nick Hockley, is English has anything to do with such a decision. Does he serve Australian cricket with an added patriotic fervour that surely would enhance any corporate acumen that he possesses?

Be it sporting related or otherwise, our cricket team is our most famous, most visible, best-loved international sporting organisation.

In celebration they kiss the coat of arms on their cap or helmet which features a ship from the First Fleet. Is it patriotism or is it hypocrisy?

Pat Cummins spoke about his love for Australia but by refusing to endorse the day he challenges that love and creates further doubt in the minds of those who have been bombarded with the message our forebears “invaded” Terra Australis.

To judge the actions of the original colonists by today’s standards of inclusion and diversity distorts the debate.

One wonders what Australia would have looked like had not Captain Cook, on what was essentially a scientific voyage, hadn’t claimed possession of the eastern part of Australia on August 22, 1770, and called it New South Wales?

The French and the Dutch were circling and those other great explorers and colonists, the Spanish and the Portuguese, would surely have claimed the continent, or parts of it.

Colonisation was inevitable but to call it an invasion distorts the intent with which the British came.

And whilst crimes against the original inhabitants were unarguably committed, the British were benevolent missionaries compared with the other nations who ravaged countries and the people they colonised.

While debates about the actions of our early settlers and our current treatment of Indigenous Australians continue to rage, our sporting teams and the administrations that support them should be apolitical.

For when it comes to politics and sport you can never please everyone. Opinions will inevitably be divisive.

One only has to see the reaction to Cummins’ comments about Australia Day to understand he needed to be more circumspect.

Our female cricket hero, Ellyse Perry played a straight bat when an attempt was made to inveigle her into the debate: “I think it’s a much broader national discussion and one that requires much more acumen than I have,” she said.

“I think that’s not really the focus for us as a team. It’s certainly more about looking at every opportunity we can to educate ourselves and making sure we represent the whole community. Because for us as a team, we very much stand for diversity and inclusion in every space.”

In those few sentences she sets the blueprint for further discussions.

Our cricket team is the most visible token of our “Australian-ness” and has an obligation to represent us all and not just promote personal agendas.

However, the discussion and any resolution around the day must come from Canberra. There may be a change of date, but until then don’t shame us for celebrating Australia Day on January 26.

It’s like the flag and the national anthem.

As Australia drifts closer to becoming a republic, accelerated by the fact that King Charles is nowhere near as loveable or as respected as his mother, debates around our flag and our national anthem will intensify.

Iconic Aussie songwriter John Williamson has called for a flag of our own for decades. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Singer/songwriter, John Williamson, who is as Australian as Slim Dusty, has been singing for years about us having a “flag of our own”.

The Union Jack in the corner is no longer relevant for a country which has been populated by immigrants from across the globe.

Confusion reigns even further when websites display up to four different flags representing different minority groups of the Australian population.

But for now, it is our flag and even though people from other countries may confuse it with the flag of New Zealand, it is instantly recognisable to us.

This is especially so if you are travelling overseas and catch a glimpse of it on another traveller’s backpack or luggage. You know you’re Australian.

Sport means different things to different people and to each his own.

However, in this household there are three days when the outside world is not allowed to intrude.

Obviously, there’s AFL grand final day. Then there is the Melbourne Cup. However, we don’t wait for the national anthem to be sung; we wait in anticipation for Daryl Braithwaite’s version of Horses.

Even though the “Australian-ness” of the race is continually being diluted by the intrusion of international horses, it’s It’s still the race that stops the nation but I’m not sure it represents Australia anymore.

Then there is the NFL’s Super Bowl. Once you can gain a rudimentary understanding of the game, it doesn’t seem so stop/start, but the Super Bowl is more than a sporting contest.

Never is patriotic pride more blatantly displayed.

The USA is a land that has been riven by atrocities to Native Americans, mistreatment of black minorities, a devastating civil war and a war of independence.

Yet, as jingoistic as it may be, the performance of their National Anthem and America the Beautiful never fail to evoke tears in those brief pre-match moments.

It means more to them because they fought and won a fierce war of independence against the British.

At least, if we ever are to become a republic it will be achieved by diplomatic means. Were that to happen, it will be an obvious day to celebrate Australia.

Friday, Australia Day just past, was blustery and inclement; not the typical Australia Day weather.

Yet, on an otherwise deserted beach at Glenelg South, six kids were playing beach cricket. The Australian flag – the proper one – planted in the sand, fluttered in the wind.

Three girls and three boys, between the ages of six and 11, plus a Labrador dog having fun despite the weather.

As today’s children they are surely aware of the history and debates impacting the date. They didn’t seem to care. They were celebrating Australia Day.

Originally published as Sport will always divide opinions when it weighs into politics | Graham Cornes