The decision to address an important issue around this country’s national day of celebration — but also mourning and sorrow for Indigenous Australians — is admirable and necessary.

But the ham-fisted manner in which CA rushed through the change, failing to properly consult the states and BBL franchises - telling them just a week ago before making an announcement days later - does more harm than good.

Some BBL franchises said they would adopt the change. Others felt ambushed and said they would defy head office’s orders, meaning a move in the name of unity suddenly became divisive.

In trying to fight the good fight for Australians who want the date changed, CA has hurt the cause.

It opened itself up to predictable calls of “woke-ism” and sent Twitter into meltdown as people argued about a nuanced, complex issue that requires far more than 280 characters or less.

And it fired up bloody ScoMo, who smacked down cricket powerbrokers while speaking on the wireless.

“I think a bit more focus on cricket and a bit less focus on politics would be my message to Cricket Australia,” the Prime Minister told radio station 4RO.

That old chestnut.

Perhaps this tweet from a veteran political journalist was the most appropriate retort to Morrison’s “stick to sport” claim: “There was a lot of politics in how this government allocated sports funds so they can hardly tell sport to stay out of politics. In any case nobody should be excluded from the political debate.”

A devoted Cronulla Sharks fan, Morrison doesn’t mind poking his nose into sport whenever he gets the chance, from necking a beer in the stands at Shark Park in front of the cameras to musing to reporters about winger Bronson Xerri after he tested positive to performance-enhancing substances.

“ASADA should do their job, they should follow that through, there are no exceptions!” Morrison advised.

The Prime Minister also felt the need to drop everything last year to phone ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys after rugby league did a very rugby league thing and shelved the national anthem before State of Origin matches — without telling anyone.

The NRL swears the decision had nothing to do with appeasing Indigenous players, although that has been privately disputed by some players I’ve spoken to.

The commission insists it was because Origin wasn’t an appropriate event at which the anthem should be played, reserving it for grand finals and Test matches, even if it’s been the case for the best part of 40 years.

At the very least, it was extremely naive to consider the move as nothing more than a matter of protocol after several Indigenous players had calmly said the year before they wouldn’t be singing the anthem, causing many people to get completely out of shape over footballers refusing to move their lips.

When Morrison phoned V’landys, saying he wanted to unite the country instead of dividing it during the time of a pandemic, V’landys backflipped on the decision.

To CA’s credit, it has stood its ground despite Morrison’s advice, although the failure of interim chief executive Nick Hockley to talk about the issue has confounded many within the game.

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It’s important that sport gets these issues right and, admittedly, they are uneasy conversations to have.

The Black Lives Matter protests in the US last year highlighted the difference between the NBA and NFL when it comes to matters of race.

In the NBA, 81 per cent of the players are African-American. In the NFL, it’s 70 per cent. They are issues that can’t be ignored.

Legendary New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees was pounded into submission when he said in an interview with Yahoo Finance he believed it was “disrespectful” to kneel during the national anthem in protest of police brutality.

When the remarks blew up in his face, Brees and his management launched a social media offensive to stop claims he was an out-and-out racist when he seemed more tone-deaf than anything else.

Cricket has worked hard in moving away from the “pale, male and stale” cliché that’s been attached to it for generations.

While CA’s decision to address the delicate debate around Australia Day is admirable, and has garnered support among many Australians, it’s equally angered some fans who probably couldn’t care less about when the nation is celebrated but are tired of being told how to think.

After a Herald poll revealed that 48 per cent of Australians are opposed to moving the date, and only 28 per cent want the date moved, they are the people who need the most convincing.