More calls to rename Margaret Court Arena
<p dir="ltr">Columnist Peter FitzSimons is once again <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10461501/Peter-FitzSimons-Rename-Margaret-Court-arena-tennis-legends-anti-gay-rights-stance.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leading calls</a> to rename Melbourne’s Margaret Court Arena in response to the tennis star’s stance on gay marriage.</p><p dir="ltr">In 2017, Margaret Court shared her “disappointment” in Qantas in a letter she penned to the airline over its support of the federal government’s plebiscite to legalise gay marriage. She also revealed she would no longer fly with the company as a result.</p><p dir="ltr">“I am disappointed that Qantas has become an active promoter for same sex marriage,” she said in the letter published in the West Australian newspaper.</p><p dir="ltr">“I believe in marriage as a union between a man and a woman as stated in the Bible. Your statement leaves me no option but to use other airlines where possible for my extensive travelling.”</p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-1f2a3abb-7fff-bc46-ce66-c5cb3c32e5b6"></span></p><p dir="ltr">Fitzsimons, who has previously called on officials to change the stadium’s name, posted a poll to Twitter on Sunday night asking his followers whether they thought the name should be changed, with one option including naming the venue after First Nations icon Evonne Goolagong Cawley.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Margaret Court Arena should be</p>— Peter FitzSimons (@Peter_Fitz) <a href="https://twitter.com/Peter_Fitz/status/1487380481641353216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2022</a></blockquote><p dir="ltr">After receiving 5382 votes, the results showed that 80 percent of voters thought Goolagong Cawley should receive the honour of having the stadium named after her, just over 14 percent thought the name should be unchanged, and about 5 percent said it should be named after someone else.</p><p dir="ltr">Fitzsimons has previously spoken glowingly about Goolagong Cawley, describing the seventh-time grand slam winner as one of the “more generous” people he knows.</p><p dir="ltr">“Personally, I know of no finer person, no more generous and inclusive than Evonne Gollagong Cawley,” he said.</p><p dir="ltr">“I run into her about once a year in airports around Australia and she is always on her way to do something to help someone.</p><p dir="ltr">“How ‘bout the Evonne Goolagong Arena, as a name that tennis can be proud to put up in lights?”</p><p dir="ltr">The Melbourne Park arena was named after Court in 2003 “as a tribute to Australia’s most successful tennis player”, according to the venue’s <a href="https://margaretcourtarena.com.au/about/our-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>.</p><p dir="ltr">In a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/margaret-courts-antigay-rights-stance-deserves-a-boycott-of-its-own-20170525-gwda2w.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2017 column</a> for <em>The Sydney Morning Herald</em>, Fitzsimons said Tennis Australia should be doing more to separate themselves from the controversial player and that it was time that tennis ended its association with Court.</p><p dir="ltr">“Tennis is an inclusive game, and ever more inclusive in the 21st century,” he wrote at the time.</p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-dad08968-7fff-2b48-c01e-71da83e3fff5"></span></p><p dir="ltr">“Does Melbourne Park really want to have an arena named after someone who stands so firmly against such inclusiveness, who is becoming a byword for bigot?”</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Wiradjuri legend Evonne Goolagong Cawley …<br /><br />Handing the Australian Open trophy to Ngarigo champion Ash Barty …<br /><br />On Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung land.<br /><br />How. Awesome.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ausopen?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ausopen</a> (Pic: <a href="https://twitter.com/wwos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@wwos</a>) <a href="https://t.co/o4XmtQ11tW">pic.twitter.com/o4XmtQ11tW</a></p>— Dan Conifer (@DanConifer) <a href="https://twitter.com/DanConifer/status/1487374968434298880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2022</a></blockquote><p dir="ltr">Meanwhile, others have taken to social media to petition the arena be renamed after Ash Barty following her stunning Australian Open win over the weekend.</p><p dir="ltr">“She’s much more deserving of the honour. I mean, a dog turd bag is more deserving but anyway… bloody change it already,” one person wrote.</p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-f78e74b2-7fff-af76-b33e-98a6f40cb4e2"></span></p><p dir="ltr">“Ash Barty arena has a nicer ring than Margaret Court, don’t you think,” another said.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Wiradjuri legend Evonne Goolagong Cawley …<br /><br />Handing the Australian Open trophy to Ngarigo champion Ash Barty …<br /><br />On Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung land.<br /><br />How. Awesome.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ausopen?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ausopen</a> (Pic: <a href="https://twitter.com/wwos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@wwos</a>) <a href="https://t.co/o4XmtQ11tW">pic.twitter.com/o4XmtQ11tW</a></p>— Dan Conifer (@DanConifer) <a href="https://twitter.com/DanConifer/status/1487374968434298880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2022</a></blockquote><p dir="ltr">Others were quick to discourage the change, saying it was too early in her career for her to receive that kind of honour.</p><p dir="ltr">“I love Barty but I don’t think it should be named after someone who is still active in the sport,” one person posted on Reddit.</p><p dir="ltr">“Wait until she retires. I would love for them to rename it after Evonne Goolagong Cawley though!”</p><p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-993bec17-7fff-cc92-04e1-13406b1c7184"></span></p><p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Don Arnold (Getty Images) / Morgan Hancock (Getty Images)</em></p>
