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Nick Farr-Jones says the Wallabies should not kneel in support of the “divisive” Black Lives Matter movement because “Australia has no problem regarding racial profiling.”
The Wallabies are considering kneeling before Bledisloe’s third test against the All Blacks next weekend, with the team also wearing their new indigenously designed First Nations jersey.
“It’s great that the sport has an incredible opportunity to speak up and join the conversations, a lot of sports have done that and it would be a great thing for us,” Dane Haylett-Petty said Wednesday of the Wallabies who support BLM.
The Wallabies would be the first Australian national team to openly support the move.
But Farr-Jones, a former Wallabies captain and World Cup winner, advised against him because he believes Australia does not have a ‘major problem’ with racism and that the team would risk losing spectators if they knelt.
“To risk basically splitting the support that the Wallabies are starting to win through their brave performances in Wellington and Auckland, just don’t do it, it’s too risky,” explained Farr-Jones.
You run the risk of some viewers simply turning off. They do not want to see politics in national sport. That is a real risk. I think it could be divisive.
“I don’t think that here in Australia we have a major problem with discrimination against people of color.
“We went to South Africa in ’92 when it was opening up, when apartheid was almost behind. Of course [Nelson] Mandela was elected the first black president in 94.
“We had a minute of silence for the victims of municipal violence before we played our Test Match in Cape Town, but here in Australia I think if they polled their listeners, I think 99% would agree that all lives matter. . We don’t have that problem. Don’t turn it into a political issue at a sporting event. “
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