Nah, mate. Shannon Noll wasn't too bogan at the Cox Plate.

By AMY STOCKWELL.

Shannon Noll, knockabout country guy and working class man sang the national anthem at the races yesterday.

And he has copped some flack about it because it was apparently ‘too bogan’.

It seems that nobody likes that he dropped a syllable or two out and pronounced it ‘Oz-straya’

But to be honest, it’s just everyone getting up on their high-horse about nothing.

Everyone needs to get real about the races.

People like to pretend that it’s like some posh garden party that happens to have animals running through it.

But anyone who has been to the track or even lived in the same city as one during the Spring Racing Carnival will tell you: This ain’t no high class function.

I mean, sure, everyone looks fancy when they leave the house, but after a few hours drinking warm suds in the sun, no-one is using their pleases and thank yous. Shoes are probably off and everyone is sweaty, boozy and handsy. There is at least one fascinator feather floating in every drink.

Australia’s biggest bogan event isn’t the Summernats or Bathurst. It’s the Spring Racing Carnival.

So Nollsie wasn’t doing a bad job. If anything, he was in the spirit of the event. If any of the attendees had been given a microphone that afternoon, I doubt if they could have remembered the lyrics, let alone pronounce Australia with a plumb in their gob.

I say it was Advance Australia Unfair for Shannon Noll. Boge-on, mate. You’re in the right place for it.

What do you think? Was Shannon too bogan? Or were the bigger bogans standing there watching him?