After decades of the right using racism to wedge the left, professional sports players have now wedged the right between past and future.
Now for the latest news in sport, where Scott Morrison’s traditional January bomb-throwing over #changethedate ran into unexpected opposition: the global embrace of anti-racism activism by professional sports players.
For Morrison, January 26 was meant to be an opportunity to rally his team with a few big opening hits against out-of-touch lefties before settling down for the longer innings of the political year. Instead, he’s been on defence, in response to the cultural evolution of Australia’s most national sport — cricket.
Games in the Big Bash League this year will be played on “January 26”. Some teams will play in Indigenous-themed kits. Some teams, including the Sydney Sixers, who are playing on the day, have adopted the worldwide sporting anti-racism gesture of taking the knee at the opening of each game.
