THE ANZAC Day clash in 1995 between Essendon and Collingwood will be remembered for many things.
There were 94,825 fans crammed into the MCG; the 'house full' sign went up two hours before the first bounce. The game itself was a cracker, with Saverio Rocca kicking nine goals and the teams playing a pulsating draw.
But the day wasn't a total triumph, as it emerged in the aftermath that Collingwood ruckman Damien Monkhorst racially abused Essendon's Michael Long.
After several years of copping such abuse it proved to be the tipping point for Long, who called Monkhorst out and demanded a public apology. He eventually got it, but not until after a botched mediation session and farcical media conference.
What it also did was spark the AFL into action – it took the League just two months to research, write and introduce a racial and religious vilification policy, the first of its type in Australian sport and a pioneering document for sporting bodies the world over.
In this week's AFL Record, the 20th anniversary of the creation of the racial and religious vilification policy is marked with a look back through the frantic two months between the Long-Monkhorst episode and the announcement of the policy.
Tony Peek, then the League's communications manager and now special assistant to chief executive Gillon McLachlan, was the AFL executive charged with speaking to as many of the AFL's indigenous players as he could, to get their views and to shape the policy.
Peek told the AFL Record that it was quickly identified that there were 10 serial racial abusers in the AFL. But it was decided the policy should cover all races and creeds and that its thrust should be educational, rather than punitive.
"Their view was that the football field was their workplace and no other workplace in Australia tolerated racial abuse. And if their children had enough talent to pursue an AFL career in the future, they didn’t want them to go through the same things that they had," Peek said.
"It was the proverbial line in the sand. This notion of what happens on the field stays on the field was over."
Peek said that all in the game embraced the policy immediately, and he singled out for praise stars such as Dermott Brereton and Garry Lyon, who admitted to using racial vilification in the past as a means to unsettling their opponents.
Peek has worked for the AFL for more than 25 years and has dealt with pretty much every big issue that has engulfed the competition in that time. But this one sticks out.
"So while it was challenging and at times a bit controversial, it was also one of the most rewarding things I have been involved with," he said.
Read the full story in the round nine edition of the AFL Record, available at all grounds.
