Not sure why you'd be troubled by this. Seems like the sort of thing that they'd care about in North Korea.

Never really been into the idea of 10k let alone 100k tone deaf people singing an anthem, so not fussed if players don't sing it.

Also not fussed if the care factor is zero for the song in the first place.

They are there putting in the hard work to represent their country for sweet fa money, that’s more than enough national pride if that’s the sort of thing you’re into or looking for.

Plenty of players don't sing the national anthem no doubt in part because some heaven forbid don't know all the words.

Put a gun to my head and tell me to sing the national anthem and I'd be screwed after a few lines. Who cares?

Isaac - or USA perhaps...

@Isaac.

As an Australian who is grateful to live in this country, it is nice to see our athletes actually proud to represent our Nation, and disapointing when they are not. Not sure what you mean by the North Korea reference - that one who prefers proud athletes a militant nationalist?

It's not a diffucult observation that many professional athletes in Australia and US are more focused on activist causes than playing their sport. Many sports watchers are often sick of this, and would like to watch sport minus the social/political activism. Some of these activist athletes seem to think they have it so bad in their country that they might prefer to relocate to North Korea.

I love Australia and think national anthems are dumb. Maybe the players feel the same way as me, rather than trying to be "activists". I don't care if the guy next to me in the stands is singing his lungs out, good for him. IMO though It's the most token form of flag-waving patriotism out there. Putting on the uniform and representing Australia in basketball on the other hand...

Not really a big deal but if they start dying their hair blue and kneeling I'll switch to ice hockey

... more focused on activist causes than playing their sport.

No one said anything about enforcing patriotism Isaac. Preferring to have athletes who are proud to represent their country is a not activism either, it's just a preference.

Singing an anthem is an additional way to show that you are proud of your country, and grateful for the opportunities it has afforded you. They are free to join in or not, just as i am free to my opinion.

I would stress again that i dont claim to know any of the players intentions. It's just nice to see the ones that do join in, and i am curious as to why the ones that chose not to, didnt.

Surely you dont't believe that they are focusing on the game so much that they cannot focus enough to sing an anthem? That is a long bow to draw...

Just because you do not sing does not make you not proud. Talk about putting the horse before the cart. Here is a simple thought, some people don't like to sing just like some people don't like to think....SMH

I think when you see how lucky Australia is that so many of our NBA players commit to the national team through thick and thin, already tells you what you need to know about pride. So many other countries have been deprived of their NBA stars through lack of interest. Can't blame them. Do these guys even get a break from the NBA season? I doubt there is huge financial interest when considering the kind of salaries most are already on. That must tell you how much it means for them to represent their country.

Singing an anthem is an additional way to show that you are proud of your country...

Personally I'm not signing a song out loud which has the word girt in it.

Singing an anthem is an additional way to show that you are proud of your country, and grateful for the opportunities it has afforded you.

"As an Australian who is grateful to live in this country"
= As a rhetorical device I wish to position this as a binary choice in which others are either grateful or ungrateful to live in Australia

"it is nice to see"
= I think it is nice to see and so should you

"our athletes"
= It is my opinion that I should have some ownership of the behaviours and beliefs of athletes representing the country I live in

"actually proud to represent our Nation and disapointing when they are not"
= I believe that athletes should abide by the same moral code as I do, and should not express opinions or take actions contrary to this

"Not sure what you mean by the North Korea reference"
(I'm feigning ignorance, of course I understood but I'm pretending that I didn't as another rhetorical device)

"- that one who prefers proud athletes a militant nationalist?"
= I'm choosing to (falsely) represent these two things as a binary choice

"It's not a diffucult observation that many professional athletes in Australia and US are more focused on activist causes than playing their sport."
= I believe that professional athletes should not express a political opinion while working as sports people and it makes me uncomfortable that other people disagree with me. The use of the phrase "it's not a difficult observation" implies reasonable agreement on the reader's behalf despite the contentious assertion.

"Many sports watchers are often sick of this, and would like to watch sport minus the social/political activism."
= I don't like this, it makes me uncomfortable as I disagree with this thing. The use of 'many' is purely hypothetical.

"Some of these activist athletes seem to think they have it so bad in their country that they might prefer to relocate to North Korea."
= I have a highly politicised framework for understanding the world around me and I don't like feeling uncomfortable or people who disagree with me. I have chosen to conflate athletes asserting an opinion that I disagree with with the actions of a brutal quasi-communist autocracy.

At the school, about 1 in 3 parents will try to sing when the lyrics are on the projector.

When the projector is not showing the lyrics there are very few that will sing, including me.

I know the first verse and thats it.

Would you like me to suit up for the Boomers?

Can't hit a 3 to save my life though.

I only just discovered the national anthem lyrics had changed after I noticed Ingles and Mills lips looked like they sang the word "one", not "young". I didn't know Australians really cared about the national anthem. Not like we put our hand on our heart or anything like that.

This is a topic a lot of the right wing US commentators have been picking up from sports teams. Most of my memories on watching anthems across sport have seen players silently listening to the anthem.

Culture seems now, lets pick something to criticise players with. I can understand bend the knee controversies but standing respectfully listening to an anthem is the way its been done 50+ years.

I know when I visit a cats game everyone stands but only the singer really sings it.

And lets face it , most of us are terrible singers.

I, too, long to go back to a time in sports before politics entered the fray, when it was just a couple of slaves riding their masters' horses against each other on the plantation so the owners could figure out which of them had the better animals.

Trying to make a national anthem apolitical is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. It's a national anthem. It's either political, in which case the assertion that politics are out of place is dumb, or it's meaningless, in which case the assertion that politics are out of place is dumb. It's especially irritating to hear this outcry coming from the right, given that it was the rush to insert right-wing politics into sports that created the atmosphere for all this backlash in the first place.

Not to mention that "they should be grateful for the opportunities they've been given" sounds like it's arguing for unselfish behaviour but if you think about it, it's a horrendously "fuck you, got mine" attitude to have. The correct response to finding yourself in a position of great privilege is to use your platform to advocate for those less fortunate than you, not to sit back and enjoy your millions of dollars while other people die.

"you are proud of your country, and grateful for the opportunities it has afforded you"

For most of them it's USA, Japan, China that give them a nice living and pay them millions of dollars.

That’s the real opportunity to be grateful for isn’t it...?

I honestly did not know that this would be a touchy subject and that so many would be unable to handle an opinion such as this!

Surprised North Korea was brought into this.

Appreciate the genuine feedback and responses on not singing and respectfully listening. Good points.

CT, thankyou for taking certain quotes of mine, examining them and telling me what I really meant. This was very helpful as I now know my true intentions are terrible.

rjd Goulding was standing next to Mills and bumped him during that part of the anthem, "one" and free as Mills was old school "young" and free.

I for one will be watching closely during the national anthem tonight for those true patriots who are singing and those dirty scum who hate this country and are not.

What I have always believed (since school days, anyway) is that National Anthems were sung by athletes, in ancient Greek Olympics, who were entering a do-or-die contest, on behalf of their nation. It wasn't about w/l(win/loss), it was about l/d(life/death). Sing for all your worth.

For the Boomers, that probably means when we play against the Gilas(? the Philapines' team). Boom-boom!

" Not like we put our hand on our heart or anything like that."

I've seen this start to creep in to be honest.

Its funny the people who accuse others of virtue signalling are often the ones that need this particular supposed virtue to be signalled hard.

Of all the problems going on in the world, we are now bagging people because they don't sing the anthem, fuck me most people don’t even know the words.

I honestly did not know that this would be a touchy subject and that so many would be unable to handle an opinion such as this!

Wake me when we can correlate/causate game performance to players singing/not singing the preceding national anthem.

Shoutout to the real MVP of the night, the Venezuelan national anthem - that just kept on giving. (Apparently Uruguay has one that goes for 6 mins!)

I'm outraged by this.

How dare these people not behave the way I'm pretending to believe they should, in such a crucial aspect of their jobs.

I could only imagine they would be doing the exact same thing I do when I stand for the national anthem... I sing it in my head...

I missed it but my daughter texted me and asked me why they weren't singing and said someone nudged Giddey. I missed it but interesting my daughter noticed it.

JJ, it's not that people 'can't handle' your opinion, I think it's just that a fair few think it's a silly concern and are telling you that.

"A first thought that came to mind was that if intentional, this is disappointing as many of these players have been very fortunate to benefit from being athletes in Australia (attending the AIS paid for by the Australian government, representing the country, also funded by Australian government and going on to earn millions playing a sport)."

The ideology there that we own these athletes because of funding is absolutely sick...

The benefit of athletes goes both ways, the athlete benefit and the sporting body benefits.

If someone doesn't want to sing the anthem, they don't have to. If Kramer doesn't want to wear the AIDS ribbon, he doesn't have to!

Typically when people do anthem-based political stuff, they make a point of informing people what the issue actually is, yeah?

Nah much like Kramer, I think our Boomers deserve to be beat up for this. In fact, I nominate JJ to fight everyone of our 6'8 and above players who don't sing the anthem.

Nothing uncommon about seeing this anyway. Go through any anthem singing across all sports, all nationalities, and all levels of seriousness in competition, and you'll see a complete mix of singing along, silence, eyes closed, hand on hearts, etc. etc. I think the way people feel comfortable participating in something like an anthem, is completely personal to them.

But again though, you can't seriously question pride or commitment. Most of these guys wouldn't be interested in the financial aspect in comparison to what most of them already earn, and I think I read somewhere that many players give their fees back to the program anyway. Australia is very lucky that it has a culture where every NBA player (besides Simmons), is completely committed to the national team. That should tell you all you need to know about pride, patriotism and commitment, and the choice to sing along verbally to an anthem is entirely personal.

Singing the anthem doesn't = proud of your country. Nor does it mean the opposite if you don’t sing it. Most Aussies hate the song, and don’t find it remotely entertaining or connecting. If it was, let’s say, "I am Australian" you would probably find more of the crowd and athletes getting involved as people know the words better, identify with it, and enjoy it more. If guys don’t sing the anthem, who cares, it’s not impacting anyone.

Well said Ricey. To true.

Interestingly the last successful referendum in Australia involved changing the National Anthem from God Save the Queen. ACT chose Waltzing Matilda, Most other states chose Advance Australia Fair except SA which picked this strange one -

With that little piece of trivia, I'm suddenly appreciative of Advance Australia Fair.

Thank you Master Chief for a great, well thought out and sensible response. Unlike most of the seriously over the top replies on here.

I hope all the boys sung tonight

All the Matildas singing. Just saying.

Sometimes you have to create... a certain vibe

Hahaha, WTF was that ad! It's no wonder State Bank SA went under.

I love watching South American countries and the emotion that their national anthems bring to players and fans alike... I know we aren't like that but I wish we were.

As a racing fan, I love when one of our boys in formula one or MotoGP win a race and get the honour to have the national anthem played at the circuit and I think that is one of the greatest honours you can get in sport and I brim with pride for the whole world hears our song... it's the same with Olympics and Commonwealth Games.

I don't like our national anthem and wish we had something like "I still call Australia home" as a national anthem to me is more a statement of achievement on the world stage more than something that should be played between state or origin teams or two Australian teams competing against one another... but I still always stand up no matter what when I hear a national anthem playing and I do sing it but I'll admit I'm quieter if others around me aren't joining in.

Thanks JJ for the topic

Yes, I thought I saw a headline on news.com.au recently saying the Boomers were donating their match fees

Google isnt coming up with much, anyone have a link to the article?

Perhaps a decent anthem might encourage more people to study the words.
Still got me baffled what people were thinking when the voted this song in.
Waltzing Matilda seems "more Australian" even if it is about a sheep stealer who evades the police.

Perhaps a decent anthem might encourage more people to study the words.
Still got me baffled what people were thinking when the voted this song in.
Waltzing Matilda seems "more Australian" even if it is about a sheep stealer who evades the police.

I noticed that neither NZ or the USA sang their anthems.

Time to ditch the anthems I reckon