In the land Down Under, a clear majority of citizens are opposed to woke, political sports. Just three years ago, Aussies were split on the topic, but now they’re taking a strong stand against wokeism in athletics.
The marketing research organization Dynata asked 1,000 Australians to if they agreed or disagreed with the statement: “Sporting codes like the AFL, NRL, cricket, and netball have become too politically correct.” Sixty-one percent agreed and 39 percent disagreed.
This is a seismic shift from the year 2019, when only 51 percent of Aussies indicated in polling that they were opposed to the woke, political scourge sweeping sports.
Australians supported their opposition to woke sports when prompted for a response on the question, “It is wrong that professional athletes are using their positions to campaign for their own personal political causes.” This time, 62 percent agreed and 38 percent disagreed.
Simon Kent, who writes for Breitbart, noted that opposition to woke, political sports consistently ranged throughout the Australian nation and among all age groups. It’s not just the fans who oppose woke virtue signaling, either. Non-woke athletes are with them.
Woke sports teams and athletes have kneeled in support of Black Lives Matter, waved the rainbow flag and opposed fossil fuels and Christianity.
Nevertheless, some rugby players rebelled against a top-down decision ordering them to wear gay pride jerseys. One player, Israel Folau, was released by his team for his Christian-based opposition to same-sex marriage. Seven players with the Sea Eagles team opposed the wearing of LGBT-friendly uniforms, too.
Recently the Hancock Prospecting mining company pulled its $15m sponsorship deal with Netball Australia after woke players opposed its funding. The Diamonds team objected to wearing uniforms including Hancock’s logo because of its association with fossil fuels. Anti-fossil fuel pressure on Australian sports leagues is on the increase.
The Freemantle Dockers, members of an Australian Rules team, received strong opposition to its partnership with Woodside Energy. A few months back, Tennis Australia ended a sponsor agreement with the Santos oil and gas company. Santos had served as the official Natural Gas Partner for the Australian Open and ATP Cup.
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Cricket player Pat Cummins said he also has a “problem” with Alinta Energy.
Daniel Wild, the deputy executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs, said woke teams and athletes need to pay heed to the nation’s public opposition to their antics:
Sport is a defining component of the Australian way of life, where we all can play and cheer together, and the message from mainstream Australians is clear: play the ball and not the man.
The results on the scoreboard could not be clearer. Australians want politics out of their sport plain and simple. The recent actions of a number of professional sport stars are fundamentally at odds with the views and values of mainstream Australians.
Sports have historically been a great unifier in Australia, and the nation can’t afford to cede them over to woke activists, Wild said.
Australian media have significantly risen up in recent days against woke sports.
Sky News host Rita Panahi stated that virtue signaling athletes are often a “big fat hypocrite.” Her colleague, Chris Smith, opined, “We know what follows when you go woke.” You go broke.
Ditto. We can only hope Americans will wise up and rise up against this blight upon our teams and athletes as well.
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— MRCTV (@mrctv) October 27, 2022