Matildas Hold Aboriginal Flag For Team Photo Before First Olympic Games Match

The Matildas have been praised for their mark of respect during a team photo ahead of their first Olympic Games match.

Before the first whistle blew, they huddled together and posed for a quick group picture, which is customary before most games.

However, they decided to display an Aboriginal flag to show their solidarity with First Nations people back home.

People watching at home were absolutely loving it.

It was an incredible display and is rarely seen on the world stage.

One of the most memorable times the Aboriginal flags has been flown at the Olympics was when Cathy Freeman won Gold in the Sydney Games and held both the Aussie and Aboriginal flags as she did a lap of honour.

The Aussies dominated in their opening Tokyo Games match and eventually beat New Zealand 2-1.

Matildas' Sam Kerr, who found the net with an epic header, was proud of their Aboriginal statement.

"It's something we spoke about a lot as a team. We let the Indigenous girls drive it," she said after the match.

"We didn't want to do something that goes along with the grain, we wanted to do something that was relevant for our country."

PA

The Kiwis took a knee before the game to display their personal stance on racism and respect for the conversation happening all around the world.

Team GB and Chile did the same in their match against each other.

It was also done by Team USA ahead of their shock 3-0 loss to Sweden, with captain Megan Rapinoe saying: "It's an opportunity for us to continue to use our voices and use our platforms to talk about the things that affect all of us intimately in different ways.

"We have people from Team USA, from all over the country, from all backgrounds, and people literally from all over the world for every other team so I obviously encourage everyone to use that platform to the best of their ability to do the most good that they possibly can in the world, especially as all eyes are on Tokyo these next couple weeks."

Political or social forms of protests are banned at the Olympics, however taking a knee just before kick off is allowed.

To support the fight against racial injustice visit ladbible.com/unheard

Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie