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The NRL has backflipped on its decision to scrap the Australian national anthem at the 2020 State of Origin opener in Adelaide.
The NRL has defended its decision to scrap and then reinstate the national anthem for Wednesday's State of Origin opener in Adelaide after an intervention from Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Barely two hours after the decision was announced to axe the anthem from the pre-match ceremony, the ARLC chairman Peter V'landys bowed to a backlash and reinstated it.
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo said there had been discussions across various forums in the short time after the decision was made public, while pressure also came from Mr Morrison.
"There's been numerous discussion forums across the media and across Australia today. There've been numerous phone calls today between different stakeholders," Abdo said on Thursday afternoon.
"The Prime Minister made a phone call to our chairman.
"We've had a number of fans express their views across a number of different platforms and on that basis the commission met and decided that this decision wasn't the intention and therefore it was important to reinstate the national anthem to start of State of Origin."
It's understood the Prime Minister pleaded the case for strong national unity after a year of hardship in his phone call with V'landys on Thursday.
The about-face follows an ARLC commission meeting on Wednesday night with representatives from NSWRL and the QRL, where the decision was made to scrap the anthem for Origin matches.
Abdo explained the scrapping of the anthem from Origin matches was made to celebrate the rivalry between the state teams.
The commission decided the anthem was appropriate only to be played at the NRL grand final, Anzac Day games and Test matches, and did not intend to create a divisive political debate.
However, backlash from fans and government forced the decision to be reversed on Thursday.
Last year's series was dominated by the issue when Indigenous Blues trio Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker and Josh Addo-Carr spoke out before the game about their refusal to sing.
The anthem was also scrapped at the annual All Stars match earlier this year.
However, the original decision to scrap the anthem for this year's Origin series was made without speaking to the NRL's indigenous advisory group.
Abdo said the NRL's intentions were not politically motivated, and therefore they did not consult with the advisory group before reversing the call.
"Well we didn't speak to them prior to this and they certainly weren't lobbying or actively lobbying or putting pressure on us," he said.
"That's why we haven't consulted with them on this decision now. This was really a decision the commission made.
"We haven't caved in."
Abdo also confirmed no player would be forced to sing the anthem and that those decisions rest with the individual.
The prime minister's office released a statement on Thursday praising the NRL's flexibility on the issue.
"This is a welcome decision by the NRL," Mr Morrison said.
"The NRL have done the right thing by listening to their fans and acting quickly to overturn their choice not to play the national anthem at the Origin series.
"We have all faced a year of struggle and heartbreak and it has never been more important to be coming together to celebrate Australia and to be able to sing together our national anthem at the game so many of us love."
