ACT Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham has thrown his support behind the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum while declaring sport and politics do mix.
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The comments come days after ACT chairman Matt Nobbs revealed the organisation's board had made a decision to stay out of the conversation on the Voice.
The decision was made in an attempt to keep sport and politics separate and was made without consultation of the playing group or the Indigenous advisory group. Nobbs acknowledged on Tuesday night the board should have canvassed the opinions of the entire organisation before taking a stance.
The chairman's comments have triggered days of meetings, information sessions and discussions within the Brumbies and an external debate about the role of sporting bodies in political conversations.
Rugby Australia officially endorsed the Voice to Parliament on Thursday morning, the AFL following soon after. The organisations join the NRL, Football Australia, Australian Olympic Committee and Tennis Australia in either voicing their support or backing the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
Organisations, teams and players have treaded carefully before making public declarations to ensure they are across all the details before commenting.
Larkham said this week has provided numerous opportunities to learn about the Voice to Parliament and his reasons for supporting the referendum are simple.
"I think it's important that everyone in Australia has a voice," he said.
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The intersection of sport and politics has proved treacherous territory in recent years as organisations navigate complex issues.
The view that sport and politics don't mix is a simplification that fails to recognise the role of sport in society.
Rugby Australia found itself at the centre of a firestorm when Israel Folau was sacked for homophobic social media posts. The decision caused significant tension within the playing group and split supporters.
Larkham said that while sport can provide fans an escape from everyday life, it also plays a key role in facilitating societal change.
"We've addressed it as a playing group and our chairman's put his hand up and admitted both himself and the board have made a mistake," he said.
"We're in the process of educating everyone at the moment, talking to all of the stakeholders, including the playing group, our Indigenous advisory group and all the other stakeholders that should have a say in this and the process will take a bit of time."
The controversy comes as the team prepares to travel to Perth for a crucial Super Rugby clash with the Western Force.
The coach was disappointed with the way the week has played out and conceded the Voice discussion has been a distraction but remains confident it won't impact the Brumbies performance.
"It's already been a distraction," Larkham said. "That's fine, we have to deal with it. There's so many things going on in individual's lives all the time. This is a group scenario where everyone's sort of affected but I'd expect everyone to have some sort of issue through the week.
"This will be no different. There's going to be a point in the week where we ask the players to start focusing heavily on our game.
"Distractions happen through the week and I'm not too worried about it happening at this stage as long as nothing happens in the build up to the game."
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