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Brisbane Lions share vision of team taking a knee in stand against racism following George Floyd’s death in US

Murray WenzelThe West Australian
VideoLions players have rallied together. Vid: Brisbane Lions

Brisbane’s playing group has paused to take a knee at the Gabba on Friday in a powerful show of support for the AFL club’s indigenous collective.

The Lions’ indigenous players addressed the club on Thursday night after days of protests around the world sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody in the United States.

And their words struck a chord, the team responding with a solemn gesture popularised when former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt during the American national anthem to protest racial injustice and policy brutality.

The Lions’ show of support came at the conclusion of National Reconciliation Week, something indigenous Lions player Allen Christensen said the club has begun to take more seriously.

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“When I got here six years ago it felt like we were a club where reconciliation week would roll around and we would just pump out a jumper and that was it,’” he told The Roar Deal podcast.

“I think there are a lot of businesses and companies and sporting organisations that do that and I’ve been thinking the pasts few days how I’m really proud that this isn’t a one week or two week thing for us, it is part of our culture now.”

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On Wednesday, AFL superstar Lance Franklin made a rare public foray into the race debate, noting that indigenous Australians are far more likely to be jailed than even African-Americans.

West Coast star Nic Naitanui weighed in to the debate too, criticising those who were promoting “All Lives Matter”.

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