NRL joins growing number of sporting codes backing Indigenous voice to parliament

Wests Tigers and South Sydney Rabbitohs players take part in a smoking ceremony during the NRL’s Indigenous round launch in 2022. The organisation says it will back the Indigenous voice to parliament. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

The National Rugby League is the latest major sporting code to back the Indigenous voice to parliament, joining a growing list of elite athletic organisations campaigning for a yes vote in this year’s referendum.

As the two major football codes hold their Indigenous rounds in coming weeks, a long-mooted campaign of support from sporting groups is expected to intensify toward a referendum likely to be held in October – shortly after the AFL and NRL grand finals.