On Friday Night, 24 May 2024 at the NRL Manly v Melbourne match held at Manly, Neil Evers appeared to give the ‘Acknowledgement of Country.”
Why was this non-Aboriginal charlatan painted up and put on stage at all?
Let alone during the Indigenous Round?
Let alone marking the beginning of Reconciliation Week?
Let alone only days before Sorry Day?
Why is he labelled “Uncle Neil”?
Instead of giving a ‘Welcome to Country”, why is he giving an Acknowledgement to Country he claims as his?
Why does he not welcome or Acknowledge ANY Indigenous People, past or present, outside of his own family?
Why does he persist in claiming to be Aboriginal, despite being denied a Confirmation of Aboriginality, and being on the record publicly stating his profound ignorance of all things Aboriginal?
Please tell the NRL that ‘GuriNgai’ racism, criminal fraud & genocide doesn’t belong anywhere near any footy via the following links:
https://www.nrl.com/community/contact-us/
https://www.nrl.com/community/indigenous/
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles
(02) 9970 3000
(available Monday – Friday, between 9AM – 4PM AEDT)
I wrote the following:
Dear NRL/Manly Warringah Sea Eagles,
My name is Jayson (JD) Cooke, proud Marramarra man of the Dharug Language People, and author and producer of A Long Con, Gone On Too Long, Bungaree.org and guriNgai.org.
I am writing to you to express my pain and disappointment last Friday night (24/25/2024) when watching the Indigenous Round match between Manly and Melbourne, when Mr Neil Evers appeared on my television, labelled as ‘Uncle Neil’ and gave the Welcome to Country.
Neil Evers is not Aboriginal.
He is a non-Aboriginal Person, with a possible distant Aboriginal Ancestor, whom Mr Evers knows little of, and shames daily in his attempts to claim our Culture as his own.
I am aware of Mr Evers as the genuine Aboriginal Ancestors he claims as his own are in reality those of my family and I. We are Aboriginal People – we always have been and always will be, and we do not recognise Neil Evers and his GuriNgai group as belonging to us.
Our family are not, and never have been referred to as “GuriNgai”, as this word was coined by the non-Aboriginal founders of the non-Aboriginal GuriNgai Cult which only began in 2003. We share nothing with the GuriNgai group, including DNA, custom, stories, song and especially Culture. Given what the GuriNgai demonstrate for tourists is an assemblage of stolen stories from mob from vastly different geographic areas to the Northern Beaches and Central Coast of NSW.
Genuine Aboriginal People and our Organisations and representatives have been calling out the GuriNgai for years and years now, and only recently has it been confirmed that this group is formerly under investigation by both State and Federal authorities.
Imagine my disgust on seeing the NRL prop up Neil Evers as one of us, during the Indigenous Round, days before Sorry Day, marking the beginning of Reconciliation Week.
I find it difficult to believe that any Aboriginal Person could have been involved in whatever vetting, tender, or audition process in which Neil Evers was considered the best the region could offer.
Please, please do better – we do deserve it.
JD
References:
A Long Con, Gone on Too Long. 
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