You would think that with all the progress society has made over the past decade that it would have been stamped out long ago - but you keep hearing about instances of it rearing its ugly head both in the AFL and in local competitions.
The latest incident involved my old team-mate Justin Sherman who’s now at the Bulldogs and I must say I was surprised to see his name bob up in this case.
He mentioned at a press conference that ‘it was completely out of his character’ to use racial remarks and I would have to agree. Shermo’s definitely not the type of person who you’d ever expect would be involved in racial abuse.
I am sure he understands now how serious this issue is and I bet he’ll feeling bitterly disappointed with himself about what transpired on the weekend.
While he will suffer the punishment of missing the next four games, he’ll no doubt be more concerned with how his comments have deeply affected others. That will probably stick with him forever.
‘Buddy’ Franklin was apparently the target of racial taunts earlier in the year from a spectator and another bloke got banned for life from the VFL for yelling out abuse at local games. Even Collingwood President Eddie McGuire got involved with a spectator who was spitting out insults from the stands at one of the Pies’ games.
It’s just not on.
The AFL is doing its best to cut out racial vilification but it’s disappointing to see so many cases of it surrounding sport.
Instances involving players are pretty rare these days and can be dealt with pretty effectively by the AFL and the clubs. But it’s harder to sanction those idiots in the stands who still think it’s ok to yell out racial remarks.
I reckon a ban for life is the way to go.
