Australian, Union Jack flags banned from Aus Open due to link to invasions

January 17, 2023 journo

Fans will no longer be able to display the Russian, Australian or Union Jack flags at Australian Open matches, due to the history of unprovoked invasions associated with the three countries.

Officials said it was ‘insensitive and inappropriate’ to wave a flag linked to unlawful military incursions. “As we all know, we’re talking about a nation that has invaded another country unprovoked, illegally annexed its land and killed innocent civilians in the process. And it’s not just Britain, Russia has done that too,” an AO spokesperson said. “The Australian Open is known as the ‘happy slam’. The last thing we want to be doing is promoting that sort of violence”.

She said players from those countries would be allowed to continue playing in the Open, but would do so independently, not as representatives of their nations.

Australian, British and Russian players will also be expected to publicly denounce their country’s invasions or risk being banned from playing.

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