BRISBANE, Australia (AP) – Cricket Australia has clashed with the country’s prime minister for refusing to refer to the national holiday in the marketing of three games on January 26, following a recommendation from its indigenous advisory committee.
Australia Day is held annually on January 26, the anniversary of the day in 1788, when Captain Arthur Phillip guided a fleet of 11 British ships that were carrying convicts to Botany Bay, where today is Sydney.
Citizenship ceremonies, parades, festivals and barbecues are held in cities and towns across the country on the date, but there are also protests and demonstrations.
Many in the indigenous community of Australia refer to this as “Invasion Day”, and the beginning of persecution and adversity at the hands of the colonizers and later by the federal and state governments. There has long been a public debate on how to find an alternative date to celebrate the national holiday.
Three Twenty20 games in Australia’s Big Bash League are scheduled for January 26, and the National Aboriginal and Cricket Strait Islands Cricket Advisory Committee recommended that the day be simply referred to as January 26 instead of Australia.
“A little more focus on cricket and a little less on politics would be my message to Cricket Australia,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told a radio station on Thursday in Rockhampton, in central Queensland. “I think this is quite common.”
On January 26, one match is scheduled for Adelaide Oval and the other two at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Three BBL teams will also wear T-shirts with indigenous design in or before the day’s matches. Before some games, there will be a barefoot round, a ceremony to welcome the country and the smoke conducted by the Aboriginal people.
“They thought it was very important not to remove the cultural elements that we celebrate throughout the season on a day like that,” said Cricket Australia diversity and inclusion manager Adam Cassidy to the Australian Associated Press.
Mel Jones, a former international cricketer who is director of Cricket Australia and co-chairman of its indigenous advisory committee, said Morrison’s comments would not change the group’s position.
“Everyone will have an opinion on this, just as they do for a variety of different things,” Jones told the Australian Associated Press. “The recommendations we know are based on values about how to make cricket as inclusive as possible. This is not a symbolic ‘let’s get a headline’. This is just our daily work. “
Jones said it was not to be seen as a divisive or political movement, and it was more to be inclusive.
“I think what we tried to embrace was to embrace the uncomfortable conversation,” said Jones. ‘“We are happy to have these difficult conversations, we know they are not easy. But if we don’t have them, nothing will change ”.
Sydney Thunder bowler Brendan Doggett, who has an indigenous heritage, is firmly behind the plans for January 26.
“I hate conflict. So, I am of the opinion that if we can all come together, this is ideal, ”said Doggett. “The way we are going to do this is to start conversations, talk about it and acknowledge the story of what happened.”
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