Cody Walker refuses to sing national anthem at State of Origin

[Precise]

Do you know for a fact he hasn’t visited remote towns? Or doesn’t plan to do so?

He should do this, he should do that..... he doesn’t need you telling him what he should or shouldn’t do

I think I see your point- that this form of protest only exacerbates the low self esteem mentality that leads to self destructive and negative behaviour patterns, but there’s a reverse school of thought that angry people fuming about Indigenous people who are in a position to speak exercising their freedoms and telling those who have found success how they should help their communities exacerbates these behaviour patterns in itself.

He’s not handing anyone a bottle or a crack pipe, he’s expressing his point of view and getting a bee in your bonnet about it is no more constructive than you think his behaviour is.

Nobody is ever going to convince anybody to adopt a more reconciliatory attitude by yelling at them or talking down to them.... it’s high time we had a proper dialogue about this rather than trying to talk over indigenous people who do have a voice.

Wgat eould be the big issue about considering a new anthem that is more representative of Australia today? The vast majority of Australians don’t even know the second verse anyway. It only seems to be precious to a lot of people when others question it.

If he had done so it would be promoted to hell and back by the NRL to garner any goodwill they can at the moment.

I don't want to talk over anyone and definitely not yelling at him, my disgust and anger goes way past that from what I've seen in the outback there honestly needs to be a full blown intervention again but the government is to soft to take the route of another stolen generation as it would be seen. Do we just want to keep allowing child rape and prostitution in a first world country? which really is the better option? They have been offered every kind of help and step up in life there is possibly available and that could be created for them and still no positive change.

Sure I shouldn't be telling him what to do he's his own man, but he is in a position to actually do something positive for once and should be out there doing it. That's what annoys me the most, he can affect some actual change in these communities with the young fellas that its not okay to get blind and bash your misses and when we've got their last hero in the public eye doing just that with no repercussions what example does that set? we need the most positive influence we can have.

I surely hope Walker or Mitchell don't end up with alcohol issues or domestic assault charges, it's the most tiring circle.

What's representative of Australia today? Australia is still largely a white British descent population. Do we go with majority rules like a democracy? or try to keep everyone happy? We can't keep everyone happy. We never will, its a pointless and resource wasting exercise personally I don't want the song changed. The media running stories like this instead of continual child rape and neglect shows how twisted this world is and how wrong our priorities are. Changing a song wont change anything, focus on the real issues.

Same people who take offence to Captain Cook, just a world class surveyor. Like he had anything to do with establishment and ruling law of the land.

 

[B-Train]

The NZ anthem have the right balance. One Maori verse and the other in English. Perhaps if there was a similar anthem in Australia which recognised it's Indigenous people also, then this wouldn't be an issue?

If people talk about how this goes against inclusion and how protesting creates division, then isn't finding a compromise the best solution?

Even the most patriotic Australian must surely recognise that our anthem isn't as inspirational or powerful as other anthems are. Our anthem doesn't inspire passion the way you see other people sing other nations anthems at sporting events.

Whenever fans sing our anthem at a game, or even the white players themselves, it's always half heartedly because they feel obliged to and it feels like a laboured Primary School rendition every time where a teacher is forcing you to sing it against your will. That's because the anthem itself is so mundane and boring.

 

[Dingo]

What lol,
Young and free ... yes that’s us
Girt by sea... yup
Mate the whole song describes us
Golden soil, and wealth for toil.....yep us
Of Beauty rich and rare ... yep got that
Tell what bit doesn’t?

Because the dumb ***** think Advance Australia Fair refers to skin colour and not a fair go.

Take a knee muthafuckas I dare you!

 

[CroydonDog]

just change it to land down under

Nobody knows the words to it either, so it's perfect.

 

[Baby Blues]

The NZ anthem have the right balance. One Maori verse and the other in English. Perhaps if there was a similar anthem in Australia which recognised it's Indigenous people also, then this wouldn't be an issue?

If people talk about how this goes against inclusion and how protesting creates division, then isn't finding a compromise the best solution?

Even the most patriotic Australian must surely recognise that our anthem isn't as inspirational or powerful as other anthems are. Our anthem doesn't inspire passion the way you see other people sing other nations anthems at sporting events.

Whenever fans sing our anthem at a game, or even the white players themselves, it's always half heartedly because they feel obliged to and it feels like a laboured Primary School rendition every time where a teacher is forcing you to sing it against your will. That's because the anthem itself is so mundane and boring.

If you look at both the NZ and SA national anthems they definitely do what you have described. I’d be interested to hear the opinion of an indigenous person if they would be happy for there to be that type of recognition in the national anthem

 

[Nate DAWG]

If you look at both the NZ and SA national anthems they definitely do what you have described. I’d be interested to hear the opinion of an indigenous person if they would be happy for there to be that type of recognition in the national anthem

Difficulty is there are many Aboriginal languages.

 

[Dannyboi88]

All he has to do is stand there and not sing the fucking thing and keep his views to himself and no one would know differently why they speak to the media and what not is beside him there gonna make a song and fucking dance about it. And everyone’s gonna have their pitchforks out .
who cares all this crap with the indigenous happened long time ago and it’s history which we can’t change that it’s a multicultural country

 

[Caveman]

There is always a couple of players who don't sing the anthem anyway and there always has been. Only difference is he's come out and said he's doing it to raise awareness of an issue that's obviously dear to him.

I don't think it's a smart move or a good move personally, just creates division, if he really wants to make positive change then be proactive in educating those from his culture on how to get ahead and how to fight adversity through self respect, discipline and perseverance.

Victim mentality is bred out of selfishness, it sucks on society like a leech, feeding itself at the detriment of others.

Positive change comes from positive actions backed by discipline (maybe this is positive for his culture, I'm not to sure, I have not looked into it).

BTW I am also partly Aboriginal, but I culturally consider myself Australian, I have no desire to tick the Aboriginal box on any form in life, but that's me and I'm totally different to Cody.

If they are that worried about it just don't film him during the Anthem.

 

[Shanked]

Nobody knows the words to it either, so it's perfect.

all you need is "*mumble mumble* vegemite sandwich"

 

[Raysie]

Interested to see what CH9 do. I'm sure they'll have the cameras showing him the whole way through the Anthem to generate news and mayhem in general.

 

[MatstaDogg]

The NZ anthem have the right balance. One Maori verse and the other in English. Perhaps if there was a similar anthem in Australia which recognised it's Indigenous people also, then this wouldn't be an issue?

If people talk about how this goes against inclusion and how protesting creates division, then isn't finding a compromise the best solution?

Even the most patriotic Australian must surely recognise that our anthem isn't as inspirational or powerful as other anthems are. Our anthem doesn't inspire passion the way you see other people sing other nations anthems at sporting events.

Whenever fans sing our anthem at a game, or even the white players themselves, it's always half heartedly because they feel obliged to and it feels like a laboured Primary School rendition every time where a teacher is forcing you to sing it against your will. That's because the anthem itself is so mundane and boring.

I agree, I love Australia but our anthem is definitely mundane and boring. It doesn't get me pumped up like other nations anthems. For example, the NZ anthem I think is great. It has feeling to it. Geez even the Russians have an inspiring anthem!!

 

[B-Train]

I agree, I love Australia but our anthem is definitely mundane and boring. It doesn't get me pumped up like other nations anthems. For example, the NZ anthem I think is great. It has feeling to it. Geez even the Russians have an inspiring anthem!!

Definitely. There are so many more that are inspirational and always make me wish we had an anthem like that. Italy, Uruguay, South Africa, Argentina, Wales and Brazil among others all have great anthems that all colours and creeds sing with passion.

 

[Dawgfather]

I don’t disagree we need to unify.... but true unification involves compromise.... not force feeding a large group of people a perception of history they don’t agree with which is actually painful to many of them. Why do we have to use symbols from a time when the nation was far from perfect and very much divided to express our unity?

The my way or the highway attitude only reinforces division, imo.

I don't think Advance Australia Fair is a 'my way or the highway' anthem.

The lyrics of the anthem go a long way to expressing unity, in the very first line "Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free".

"Australians" - it does not say Aboriginal Australians, Chinese Australians, conservative australians or progressive australians. It says anyone who is Australian. Pretty good way to unit IMO.

 

[blueyedsamurai]

He whinged after the indigenous game at the start of the season so its not surprising

 

[Flanagun]

I don't think Advance Australia Fair is a 'my way or the highway' anthem.

The lyrics of the anthem go a long way to expressing unity, in the very first line "Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free".

"Australians" - it does not say Aboriginal Australians, Chinese Australians, conservative australians or progressive australians. It says anyone who is Australian. Pretty good way to unit IMO.

On the surface, perhaps. In reality, the anthem was written at a time when Indigenous people were hardly recognised as people, let alone equals and a strong argument can be made that it represents colonialist interests which are completely out of step with modern day Australia's values. You might think it spreads a message of unity, but the problem is, a lot of people disagree and given the historical period in which it was written and policies which were in place at the time, a strong argument can be made to support that belief. If some don't feel they can get behind it, I think it's perfectly understandable....

 

[Flanagun]

If he had done so it would be promoted to hell and back by the NRL to garner any goodwill they can at the moment.

I don't want to talk over anyone and definitely not yelling at him, my disgust and anger goes way past that from what I've seen in the outback there honestly needs to be a full blown intervention again but the government is to soft to take the route of another stolen generation as it would be seen. Do we just want to keep allowing child rape and prostitution in a first world country? which really is the better option? They have been offered every kind of help and step up in life there is possibly available and that could be created for them and still no positive change.

Sure I shouldn't be telling him what to do he's his own man, but he is in a position to actually do something positive for once and should be out there doing it. That's what annoys me the most, he can affect some actual change in these communities with the young fellas that its not okay to get blind and bash your misses and when we've got their last hero in the public eye doing just that with no repercussions what example does that set? we need the most positive influence we can have.

I surely hope Walker or Mitchell don't end up with alcohol issues or domestic assault charges, it's the most tiring circle.

What's representative of Australia today? Australia is still largely a white British descent population. Do we go with majority rules like a democracy? or try to keep everyone happy? We can't keep everyone happy. We never will, its a pointless and resource wasting exercise personally I don't want the song changed. The media running stories like this instead of continual child rape and neglect shows how twisted this world is and how wrong our priorities are. Changing a song wont change anything, focus on the real issues.

Same people who take offence to Captain Cook, just a world class surveyor. Like he had anything to do with establishment and ruling law of the land.

Who are you to say it wouldn't make a difference? It wouldn't eradicate the serious problems you mentioned, but acknowledging people's feelings on the matter and respecting the views of many Indigenous people rather than condemning them as unpatriotic for not wanting to sing the anthem - as many people do, would lift collective self esteem. Self esteem helps people develop a stronger sense of identity, which goes a long way to empowering them to work on problems which effect both individuals and communities. The debate needn't detract from other issues confronting Indigenous communities....in fact, talking about Indigenous people as second class citizens just widens the rift and inhibits members of the Indigenous community and wider community working together to develop practical, tangible solutions. People are generally more responsive to efforts to help if they don't feel society is talking down to them. The lower they are made to feel, the more they retreat into destructive and inappropriate behaviour patterns. That's just basic human psychology.

 

[Dingo]

Bloke who never played Origin before wants to turn things into a political song and dance.
I watch the game for relief from that shit. Protest in your own time ffs.

 

[Dingo]

SEND HIM BACK TO WHERE HE CAME FROM!

Yeah all the way back to his Mum's fanny.

 

[EXPLORER]

The NZ anthem have the right balance. One Maori verse and the other in English. Perhaps if there was a similar anthem in Australia which recognised it's Indigenous people also, then this wouldn't be an issue?

If people talk about how this goes against inclusion and how protesting creates division, then isn't finding a compromise the best solution?

Even the most patriotic Australian must surely recognise that our anthem isn't as inspirational or powerful as other anthems are. Our anthem doesn't inspire passion the way you see other people sing other nations anthems at sporting events.

Whenever fans sing our anthem at a game, or even the white players themselves, it's always half heartedly because they feel obliged to and it feels like a laboured Primary School rendition every time where a teacher is forcing you to sing it against your will. That's because the anthem itself is so mundane and boring.

I agree
The kiwi anthem is way better than ours

 

[coach]

I agree
The kiwi anthem is way better than ours

What a song about an imaginary person defending the country lol
Fuck we might as well have a Santa Claus song then