​Get Up, Stand Down: Is It Time For Aboriginal Sports Stars To Take A Knee During Our National Anthem?

As race-relations continue to bottom out across Australia, leading voices from the Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander sporting community are heading a push for First Australian sports stars to boycott the Australian national anthem in this week's AFL (Aussie Rules) and NRL (Rugby League) grand finals.

Former-World Champion Boxer and St George Illawarra Rugby League star, Anthony Mundine took to social media to urge his fellow First Australian sportsmen to "boycott" the national anthem this weekend during the football grand finals.

"Been saying this for years ! The anthem was written in late 1700s where blackfullas (sic) were considered fauna (animals) advance Australia fair as in white not fair as in fair go …All players aboriginal & non aboriginal should boycott the anthem & start changing Australia's ignorant mentality…lets move forward together yo," Mundine wrote on Facebook.

The post appeared alongside a video featuring Yorta Yorta man and Aboriginal academic, Paul Gorrie, who also called for Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander sportsmen to boycott the Australian anthem this weekend.

"Let me tell you something, our national anthem blows and it's a racist bunch of shit," Gorrie begins in a video produced by news website, Junkee, before listing the offensive verses in the anthem.

"Let me give you a few reasons. Number one: we know it's a terrible tune melodically. It technically sounds like shit. Number two: 'we are young and free' but not for those who are black in custody. Three: 'Beneath our southern cross we toil with our hearts and hands.' More like we toil with handcuffs, kicks in the chest and deaths in custody. Four: 'Boundless plains to share.' Let's not mention Manus and Nauru (Australia's offshore refugee detention centres)," he says.

The statistics regarding the condition of First Australians make for sobering reading. Twenty five years on from a Royal Commission into black deaths in custody the number of Aboriginal prisoners behind bars has doubled. Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander juveniles are 24 times more likely to be locked up than their white counterparts, and 13 times more likely among the adult population. Despite making up just 3% of the population, they make up 27% of the prison population.

Indigenous groups have called the situation a "national crisis."

"This is a national crisis and requires an immediate response," Change the Record co-chair Shane Duffy told SBS.

The statistics were given a human face earlier this year after footage of the torture of Aboriginal boys at the Don Dale youth correctional centre in the Northern Territory was leaked to the media.

A number of black deaths in custody in recent months, meanwhile, have further strained white-black relations.

Paul Gorrie and Anthony Mundine's calls for protests have been joined by Aboriginal former South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL player and boxer, Joe Williams. Long before San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the American national anthem, Williams made headlines after refusing to stand for the Australian anthem during a ceremony this January where he received the Australia Day Citizen of the Year award. Williams, who works in mental health and suicide prevention in regional Australia, told Rugby League Week the protests this weekend would send "a powerful message."

"Imagine if a couple of guys did it on grand final day - what a powerful message it would send to white Australia."

"It would bring all the racism that's in the closet to the surface - the racism we have to put up with every day. The way we are treated in shops, the way people look at us on the street and the way the government treats us," he said.

"It's time it stopped. And our footballers are role models and the ideal ones to bring about change."

Williams has been joined by former Balmain great, Larry 'The Black Flash' Corowa, who also called for leading Aboriginal sportsman to take a stand in this week's grand finals.

"It's time to send a powerful message to out government, which has not been effective enough in closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people," Corowa said.

"And all it would take is one player to do it on grand final day.

Despite making up just 3% of the population, Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander sportsmen make up 9% of the AFL playing list and 12% of the NRL. There are several Aboriginal players taking part in this weekend's AFL and NRL grand finals, including Noongar man, Lance 'Buddy' Franklin (Sydney Swans, AFL), Yolngu man, Will Chambers (Melbourne Storm, NRL), Wiradjuri man, Andrew Fifita (Cronulla Sharks, NRL) and Goreng Goreng man, Ben Barba (Cronulla Sharks, NRL).

Meanwhile, in Sydney, the pride of the Aboriginal Rugby League community will be on show over the weekend in the form of the Koori Knockout Tournament at Leichhardt Oval, where the Redfern All Blacks will be looking to defend their title. A tournament organisers told Vice Sports the Australian anthem will not be played at the Koori Knockouts, though added it was "not a deliberate thing."

Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander sportsman have endured a torrid two years on the pitch, dating back to the Adam Goodes saga. The Sydney Swans Aboriginal great, dual Brownlow Medallist and four-time All Australian player was targeted relentlessly by the AFL's overwhelmingly white fan-base during games following a series of racism controversies. So much so it played a part in ending his career. He also refused to take part in the traditional Grand Final day lap of honour for retiring greats due to fear of another public backlash.

"You know obviously my stand on racism is that it's unacceptable and that we should always stand up to it."

"I think going into this season, you know, I'm 35 years old, I played a couple of games in the reserves this year to get my fitness back, so I think there was a lot of factors.

"And obviously with all the booing and everything, that was another piece of the puzzle that made my decision quite easy," he told Sydney University's Honi Soit magazine after hanging up the boots.

Australia's racist underbelly revealed itself again last month when a rival fan threw a banana at Adelaide Crows Aboriginal player, Eddie Betts during a televised match. The incident became an instant media furore though Betts was quick to forgive the woman and ask for leniency on behalf of the broader community.

"Just let her be in peace now I guess, go on in her life with peace because I know she's got a lot of abusing messages on social media and all that so like I said, I've forgiven her and so should all of you," he said.

The woman was a Port Power supporter from South Australia where, in 2011, the mayor of one of Port Power's fanbases, the town of Port Augusta, threatened to set the dog squad on First Australians planning to camp in the area.

"They will not camp illegally in my city," Ms Baluch said. "We have got the police, we have got a dog squad and I would arrange merry hell," she said.

The Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, today responded to the anthem-boycott campaign, agreeing with 3AW host Neil Mitchell that moves to protest the anthem were "divisive."

"I couldn't agree with you more. This is a day when everyone comes together, the two big codes are played. Both codes, the AFL and NRL, work hard to be inclusive and embrace modern Australian and all of its diversity, and this is a time when we all come together," he said.

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