Toenail Abbott booed at Historic Footy Final

Last night’s NRL grand final will be remembered for two reasons, South Sydney ending a 43-year premiership drought and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott getting booed by over 80,000 footy fans while standing mid-field at ANZ Stadium.

The public display of ‘affection’ came as sporting personality Ken Sutcliffe conducted the post-match ceremony. Introducing the ‘official party’ on hand to observe proceedings, Sutcliffe began by welcoming “The Prime Minister of Australia, the honourable Tony Abbott’.

The sold-out crowd, once divided between Rabbitohs and Bulldogs’ supporters, showed bipartisan support in voicing their disapproval of the Liberal leader. As ANZ Stadium rained down boos in unison, Abbott had little choice but to stand there and take it, offering a sheepish grin and awkward wave in response.

The NRL grand final saw the South Sydney Rabbitohs defeat the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 30-6 to win their first premiership since 1971. You can see Abbott being submitted to a real-time opinion poll below.

As the PM was introduced at last night’s NRL trophy presentation, the sold out crowd had one thing to say: boooooo.

Cathy Freeman - Rabbitohs Secret Weapon

Cathy Freeman stole the show at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and Australia's golden girl of the track urged the Rabbitohs to "win their moment" at the same venue in a secret pre-match inspirational talk.
Freeman was brought in as a surprise guest to speak to the South Sydney players and present them with their grand final jerseys. The 20-minute talk took place at Redfern Oval just before the Rabbitohs hit the training paddock for the final time of the season on Saturday.

Freeman showed footage of her 400-metre race to the players at the same venue the Rabbitohs would take on Canterbury a little more than 24 hours later. Centre Dylan Walker – who was in kindergarten in 2000 – said Freeman left a lasting impression on the team.

"She said it was our moment and said we have to win our moment," Walker said. "She spoke about her run and her race. She said she's never felt more comfortable in her moment and she wanted to win it that bad. She wasn't worried about anyone else but herself.

"She is an Australian icon and a huge influence on everyone in Australia, especially indigenous kids. There was no better person to present to us. We were pumped up and everyone was inspired."

More Than Sport – It's About Working Class Australia

Andrew Denton, who had flown home from China on Sunday to attend the grand final, said the scenes at Redfern were like the street marches except the mood was one of joy rather than anger.

"As I got here today, I thought this is the exact reverse of those street marches," Denton said. "It is ironic, I was thinking yesterday that the company which attempted to exclude Souths are in the business of selling stories and they nearly denied themselves one of the biggest stories they will ever sell.

"I don't think it happens very often in anyone's life that there is an actual fairytale with a fairytale ending and I remember thinking during those street marches too, this is about working class Australia.

Most of our back line grew up in these streets, this isn't a fabricated thing ... and to see the resilience of this community validated is very powerful. It is more than sport."