AFL boss Gillon McLachlan savages Sam Newman over his call for Aussies to boo the Welcome to Country ceremony at the grand final

Gillon McLachlan has savaged AFL identity Sam Newman following his bizarre call for footy fans to boo during the Welcome to Country pre-game ceremony at the grand final on September 30.

The outgoing AFL boss made it clear he wasn’t on the same page as the Geelong Cats great, who has been a magnet for controversy since his days hosting The Footy Show.

‘I’m not going to dignify those sort of individual responses out in the community other than to say I disagree very definitively,’ McLachlan said of Newman’s explosive comments.

‘I think that the Welcome to Country across the finals series and the anthem have been respected significantly. People stand, they clap, they feel included.

‘It rolls into the anthem and then it rolls into the start of our game, it is a glistening part of our game now.

Gillon McLachlan has savaged AFL identity Sam Newman following his call for Aussies to boo during the Welcome to Country ceremony at the grand final

Newman’s explosive comments about the Indigenous ceremony saw him grilled over whether he’s a racist during a radio interview 

Newman told Australians to boo the traditional ceremony (pictured) not just at the Grand Final, but every time it’s performed  

‘The pre-match has been respected by all our supporters and then launched into the game.

‘I think that our supporters know where they stand, they’ve been the proper football supporters who are at the games, (they) have been totally respectful.’

On Thursday, Newman doubled down on his polarising Welcome to Country comments – and launched an extraordinary attack on Indigenous footy legend Adam Goodes.

Newman told 3AW’s Tony Jones it was the AFL’s fault fans booed Goodes in ugly scenes that the star footballer claimed prematurely ended his career with the Swans.

The 77-year-old insisted Goodes was not booed because of his skin colour and suggested no Indigenous AFL player had ever been booed because of his race.

During the tense interview, Jones asked Newman point-blank: ‘Are you a racist?’

Newman stuttered in response, ‘Now… what a… No, no, please…’

Jones clarified: ‘I think there would be people listening to this at the moment with an open mind that would want me to ask that question.’

Newman said: ‘Please… now you tell me what you think a racist is besides saying me.

‘Who have I vilified? I don’t think you know what racism is. Racism is about hate primarily and it’s if you defile, decry or degrade someone, think you’re superior than them or try to dominate them. 

‘It’s the most overworked word in the English lexicon at the minute… you tell me why anything I’ve said and what I’ve done is anything to do racism.’

Adam Goodes was booed by footy fans weeks before he took a stand with his ‘spear-throwing’ celebration in 2015

However, in 2015, Goodes had been booed for weeks every time he neared the ball before the jeers reached the next level upon him performing the now infamous ‘spear throwing’ gesture at the crowd.

‘Adam Goodes was booed because he pretended to throw a spear at the Carlton cheer squad after the Swans were beating them by 10 goals at half-time and wondered why people… people get booed on the football field, not because of their skin colour, but because of things they do,’ Newman said.

‘I know that, everyone knows that. Then the AFL waded into this… and said “please don’t boo Adam Goodes”. That’s like red rag to a bull.’

Newman also insisted he was not attempting to incite violence against First Nations people after his explosive comments.

‘We like to go to the football and watch the game without being told to vote for the gay marriage proposal, which is fine, without being told to vote for the Voice – I know (the AFL) has retracted their direction to vote Yes for the Voice. Why do they get involved?’ he said.

‘I’ll tell you. It’s an absolute hoax. It’s a rort. Welcome to Country. 

‘Why do we have to be welcomed to the country we live in? Why is that? It is just a mark of division. 

‘The people who welcome you to country get a nice stipend out of it. Why do they charge to have it? It is just a rort.’

Sam Newman described Welcome to Country ceremonies as a ‘rort’ and a source of division 

Newman described his podcast rant as a ‘provocative, tongue in cheek request’ to Australians to reject the Welcome to Country.

When challenged about the perceived backflip, Newman stood by his comments, telling Jones he would boo it if he attended this year’s AFL Grand Final.

‘I’m not retreating from anything,’ Newman said.

Just moments before Newman’s radio spot, firebrand senator Lidia Thorpe appeared on Channel Nine – and didn’t mince her words.

‘Sam Newman, I’m not sure why he’s even in the news. He’s irrelevant to any debate of the time,’ she said on the Today show on Thursday.

‘It’s about peace. The whole message behind it is respect.

‘Sam Newman is not a respectful man at the best of times. He needs to educate himself.’

Host Karl Stefanovic then asked Ms Thorpe to comment on suggestions there were ‘too many’ Welcome to Country ceremonies.

‘I think it’s up to the traditional owners themselves and the event. It’s important for people to understand the land they’re on and the stories behind that,’ she said.

‘I don’t think there’s too many, I think the stories that are told are important for this country to be able to mature and come together.’

Newman lit the fuse on his podcast You Cannot Be Serious with co-host Don Scott.

‘What about this, next time you go to a public event like the Grand Final or a football game or any public event in an auditorium and they trot out the Welcome to Country, start booing … or slow hand clapping,’ he told his audience.

Newman said there were many First Nations Australians that shared his views on the ceremony.

‘There’s so many people who say it and I keep saying it’s just a push for reparation and financial power. It is, and I’m saying, the next time you go to a football game, a final, and they trot this nonsense out just start booing and that’ll stop (it),’ he said.

‘The AFL should be absolutely horse whipped for whipping people into a frenzy about it. Patronising their whiteness by thinking they can virtuously cast off all their sins on us.

‘Honestly and truly, it’s got to stop because this has divided the country more than anything. We want to be one group of people living together and respecting one another, Don. Start booing or slow hand clapping or something.’