Photo of Australian team with Aboriginal flag taken at Tokyo Olympics, not Women's World Cup
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on August 8, 2023 at 04:46
- 5 min read
- By Kate TAN, AFP Australia
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"It's a world cup event for Gods Sake, surly they can stand behind the Australian flag, bloody disgraceful if you ask me," reads part of post shared here on Twitter, which is being rebranded as "X", on July 21, 2023.
The post, shared more than 260 times, includes an image captioned, "The Matildas posed for their pre-game picture with the Aboriginal flag proudly on display. Picture: AFP".
It was shared a day after the side made a winning start to their home Women's World Cup, beating Ireland 1-0 in their opening group stage match before a record crowd in Sydney.
The tournament -- co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand -- is the biggest to date with 32 teams taking part and interest in women's football at an all-time high.
A screenshot showing similar photos was shared on Facebook here in a post that misleadingly claimed: "The Matilda's representing Australia cannot even fly our Australian flag… but are happy to fly the Aboriginal Flag and the Pride Flag."
It was shared in a group with more than 11,000 members that expresses opposition to a proposal to give Indigenous Australians a "voice" in national policymaking.
Following the Matildas surprise 3-2 loss to Nigeria in their second group stage match, other users who had expressed opposition to the "voice" shared similar claims here and here in posts that said "woke is broke" and described the defeat as "karma".
The claims circulated as support for the "yes" campaign stuttered in the polls, and campaigning became increasingly acrimonious, marred by accusations of misinformation, racism and "Trump-style politics".
But the claims the photos show the Matildas posing with an Aboriginal flag at the World Cup are false.
World Cup pre-match photos
AFP reviewed pre-match footage from the four matches Australia have played up to August 8, and found no evidence of the team posing with the Aboriginal flag.
Team photos, available on AFP's photo archive here, here, here and here, also show the Matildas had not posed with any flag.
AFP found no official reports, as of August 8, of the team posing with an Aboriginal flag before any of their matches.
Tokyo Olympics gesture
A search of AFP's photo archive found an uncropped version of the falsely shared photo, which was taken during the Tokyo Olympics on July 21, 2021 -- two years before the World Cup.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the photo used in the false post (left) and the AFP photo (right):
A similar photo, used in other false posts, was taken by the Associated Press (archived link).
Local media reported that the Matildas' captain Sam Kerr explained that this had been an anti-racism gesture (archived link).
"We felt that (we) didn’t want to just do something to go with the grain, we wanted to do something that was relevant to our country, and show unity within our group and let everyone feel that they are represented," she said.
'Diversity and inclusion'
News outlets used the photo here and here to illustrate reports about FIFA agreeing to allow flags representing Aboriginal and Maori people to be flown at stadiums hosting World Cup matches (archived links here and here).
AFP reported the national flag, Aboriginal flag and Torres Strait Islander flag would be displayed at all 35 matches played in Australia.
Clips posted by one of the tournament's official broadcast partners in Australia, Optus Sport, here, here and here of the Matildas' group stage matches show the Australian national flag was displayed on the pitch and flown in the stands alongside the Aboriginal flag and Torres Strait Islander flag (archived links here, here and here).
"Confirmation by FIFA that all official flags of Australia will be flown during the women's World Cup is an important moment for all Australians, particularly First Nations people," said Football Australia chief James Johnson.
"This decision aligns with the values of our organisation with diversity and inclusion at the core of what we are about as a governing body and our vision for the tournament."
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