Tip of the iceberg: AFL has responded to 23 reports of racial abuse this season

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The AFL has responded to 23 reports of racist abuse directed at players across AFL, VFL and the Talent League since the start of the season as club bosses were warned at a CEOs meeting on Friday that debate surrounding this year’s referendum on the Voice to Parliament is likely to inflame the problem.

Despite the alarming number of reported attacks between rounds one to four – which included Indigenous AFL players Charlie Cameron, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, Michael Walters and Nathan Wilson – the league’s social inclusion manager Tanya Hosch is heartened that people subject to, or hearing, such abuse are calling out the behaviour via the league’s mechanisms and receiving support.

Nicky Winmar and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan lifting their jumpers.Credit: Wayne Ludbey; Getty Images

The AFL confirmed that 23 incidents of racial abuse had been reported, with abuse directed at players via social media or over the fence at games. At least one person was ejected from a venue when their behaviour was reported to security.

Hosch said the figure was likely to be the tip of the iceberg when it came to racial abuse, but it was important incidents were reported, data was kept and strategies were developed to tackle the scourge.

“It’s certainly testing our resources, but it is important that we get these reports in,” Hosch said.

She released the figure, which did not include community football, during a presentation on the referendum to club CEOs in Adelaide on Friday which explained the work the AFL had been doing in developing a position on the referendum and took questions on what might lie behind the diverging views being debated on the issue.

Hosch said the league expected abusive behaviour to run high because of the referendum but increased reporting of such behaviour was not a negative in that it helped people understand the extent of the problem, support those subject to such attacks and develop strategies to improve attitudes.

“Whenever anything to do with race and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is a prominent part of the public discourse we tend to see an elevation [of incidents of abuse],” Hosch said.

“I wouldn’t be confident to say that [these figures] means there is necessarily an elevation of the racism, although I definitely expect that to be the case this year across the year, but the fact people are reporting it means that these are the ones we know about and that the fact that people are reporting [abuse] means they don’t want to see or hear it either.

“So that is a positive sign. The more reporting we get [in that respect] the better.”

The attacks on social media often went unreported in the past, with West Coast champion Nic Natainui telling The Age in 2019 about one in 10 of the messages he received on social media were racist in sentiment.

Fremantle star Michael Walters is among a growing list of AFL stars to be on the receiving end of racial abuse.Credit: Getty Images

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon spoke with clarity and passion on the issue of racial abuse when asked how he felt watching the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Nicky Winmar and Gilbert McAdam’s brilliant performances at Victoria Park against Collingwood.

Before and after that game the St Kilda pair were subjected to horrific racial abuse, with Winmar famously lifting his jumper and pointing to his stomach while facing his abusers to say he was black and proud of it.

“He made a stand. I think we have made ground but, you know what, we have got to remain vigilant. There’s the keyboard warriors, there are the cowards. Who knows where it all comes from? I think we have made ground, but there is plenty of ground to make,” Lyon said.

“There is no place for it in our game. I think we stand as one … we’re all immigrants unless you are First Nations. [If] we all just walk past it and accept it, well it grows. If there is a witch, burn the witch so the other witches know.

“I spoke to Nicky [Winmar] and there is empathy, but it is very hard to put yourself in his shoes and understand unless you walk in those shoes. [Fremantle’s] Michael Walters is a favourite of mine. To see ‘Son Son’ and [Nathan] Wilson vilified. I don’t know where it is coming from. I don’t understand it but anything we can do to eradicate it I think everyone in this room is on board [to help]. I don’t think the fight is ever going to end, but we can keep getting better.”

At Friday’s meeting, Hosch, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman, told club CEOs that the AFL will develop a position on the referendum, but it will also be clear that it is an industry position rather than an attempt to impinge on individual views on the matter which they know will be varied.

“It’s important people feel informed on the various positions and why they all exist and giving them a chance to think it all through, and then it is up to them to show the leadership on it,” Hosch said.

Geelong skipper and players’ association president Patrick Dangerfield told The Age in March he personally supported the Yes vote, and he believed the AFL had every right to state its position on the question. AFL commentator and former star Eddie Betts also backed the Yes vote publicly.

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan said at the season launch the league would not resile from expressing a considered position on social issues despite potential backlash, with the AFL advocating for a Yes vote ahead of the same-sex marriage plebiscite held in 2017.

“Those who yell at us to stick to football don’t understand who we are and what we mean in the community – we don’t lecture or tell others what to do. We simply say to everyone in this country that we represent you, or we aspire to. We make it known what we stand for, the AFL and our clubs,” McLachlan said.

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