A section of the crowd booed a Welcome to Country ceremony before South Melbourne defeated Melbourne Victory in the Australia Cup final at AAMI Park on Saturday, October 10, according to the Australian Associated Press (AAP) and other media reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n Wurundjeri elder Uncle Colin Hunter Jr performed the ceremony before a record crowd of 29,911 spectators as Greek City Times reported.\u00a0Reports described booing near the start of the ceremony, with some accounts saying the noise grew louder as it continued. The reports did not establish the identities or club affiliations of those responsible.<\/p>\n South Melbourne, known as Hellas, subsequently made Australian football history by becoming the first non-A-League club to win the Australia Cup. The club defeated Melbourne Victory 4\u20133 on penalties after a 1\u20131 draw that extended into extra time.<\/p>\n The incident has renewed debate about the Welcome to Country, including the distinction between its historical cultural roots and its modern use at sporting events, government functions and public gatherings.<\/p>\n Traditional protocols for welcoming visitors onto another group\u2019s Country predate European colonisation. However, the formal Welcome to Country ceremony familiar to Australians today developed in its modern public form during the 1970s.<\/strong><\/p>\n The modern ceremony is commonly associated with Aboriginal performers Richard Walley and Ernie Dingo, who developed a Welcome to Country for Polynesian performers at the Perth International Arts Festival in 1978. Earlier accounts also identify a welcome at the 1973 Aquarius Festival in Nimbin, New South Wales, as an important precursor to the contemporary practice.<\/p>\n The historical distinction matters: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities maintained cultural protocols for welcoming visitors, but the standardised public ceremony now delivered before major events represents a contemporary adaptation of those traditions. Reconciliation Australia traces the contemporary revival of Welcome to Country to the land-rights era of the 1970s and 1980s.<\/p>\n According to Reconciliation Australia<\/a>, Traditional Owners deliver a Welcome to Country, or authorise another Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person to perform it, to welcome visitors to their Country. The ceremony can include a speech, singing, dancing or a smoking ceremony.<\/p>\n News.com.au<\/a> reported that spectators booed as Hunter performed the ceremony and that the noise intensified towards its conclusion. Its report criticised the reaction but did not identify the section of the stadium responsible.<\/p>\n The ABC\u2019s coverage, which also appeared in AAP reporting<\/a>, offered a more specific description. It noted that a large contingent of South Melbourne supporters occupied the southern end of AAMI Park and reported that a section of the crowd in that area booed the ceremony.<\/p>\n Writing for The Guardian<\/em><\/a>, football journalist Joey Lynch described the booing as the night\u2019s \u201conly blemish\u201d. He reported that the initial reaction prompted attempts by terrace leaders to quieten the crowd, but he did not identify those individuals or establish their club affiliations.<\/p>\n These accounts do not justify attributing the booing to all South Melbourne supporters or Melbourne Victory fans.<\/p>\n View this post on Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n![\"South](\"https:\/\/greekcitytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/South-Melbourne-3-1024x683.webp)
<\/source><\/picture>Origins of the Welcome to Country ceremony<\/em><\/h3>\n
Reports Differ on Where the Booing Came From<\/em><\/h3>\n