The AFL is getting tough on racism. From the top down the AFL is tackling racism head on, kicking fans out of stadiums for racist slurs and enforcing a strict ‘zero-tolerance’ policy towards vilification.
Coming from an institution that isn’t perhaps the most known for its progressive attitudes, it almost sounds too good to be true.
The AFL’s recent tough policies on racism and willingness to through fans out of stadiums for racism should be applauded. Perhaps best known to many is the incident during the indigenous round last year when a 13-year old girl was kicked out of the stadium after calling Sydney Swans veteran Adam Goodes an “ape”.
Many clubs have shown a willingness to kick supporters out, cancel their memberships and the AFL has been proactive in banning supporters from attending games in the future following racist slurs. This new hard-line should be applauded as it sets a clear line in the sand about acceptable behaviour from supporters in a way that not many other institutions in our society do.
However there are unfortunately glaring obvious holes in the AFL’s so called ‘zero-tolerance’ that cannot be ignored.
Only weeks following the Goodes vilification incident last year, Eddie McGuire, Collingwood president and respected AFL figure suggested on-radio that Goodes be employed to promote the King Kong stage show.
McGuire apologised and most of the media ran with headlines like ‘Eddie’s King Kong Gaffe’, implying it was simply a slip of the tongue, which is how he explained it. After McGuire ‘sat down’ with Goodes the AFL gave no punishment of any kind to the club president other than making him undergo a ‘racial vilification education program’ provided by the AFL.
“It’s not part of the policy to sanction unless of course the people do not participate in the process, they don’t want to subject themselves to education [and] if they haven’t apologised sincerely,” AFL Chief Executive Andrew Demetriou said at the time.
Demetriou went on to say that he hoped Goodes would play the following week to “put aside” the controversy.
Perhaps the AFL should look to the NBA for an example of ‘zero-tolerance’ to racism in sport.
Compare this to the response from the National Basketball Association in U.S when in April this year racist comments by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling emerged in the press. Three days after the scandal broke the NBA announced that Sterling would be banned from attending games for life, he would be fined US$2.5 million and the NBA would pressure him to sell the team.
While comparing the statements made by McGuire and Sterling one might rule that Sterling’s statements were more extreme, however surely ‘zero-tolerance’ shouldn’t have a sliding scale?
So why were Demetriou and the AFL so keen to let McGuire off the hook and move on after an apologetic press conference? McGuire’s power and privilege as one of the most powerful men in AFl was most likely one reason, but another perhaps is that many white-Australians may not have been outraged by the comments.
Following Sterling’s racist rant media organisations were quick to provide a unified condemnation, even US President Barack Obama chimed in calling Sterling a bigot. Where-as in Australia, words like ‘gaffe’ and ‘slip of the tongue’ in the media provided an apologist tone for McGuire.
On one hand the AFL claims to be moving above community standards on racial vilification, however the community, the media and what constitutes an ‘outrage’ can still be seen to affect how the AFL responds.
Sadly it doesn’t take much searching to find examples beyond McGuire. Earlier this month, 14 year-old Indigenous player Sachem Cockatoo-Collins quit playing the sport after an umpire called him an “N” word and told him to, “Watch his back.”
The story was only reported on because the boy was the son of former AFL player Che Cockatoo-Collins, and even then it was hardly reported. The umpire received a two match suspension from umpiring.
The long-time host of Channel Nine’s The Footy Show Sam Newman in 2009 referred to a Malaysian man in a picture as “a monkey” on live TV. Brendan Fevola challenged him saying “you can’t call him that.” At which Newman countered, “Clearly this man is not long out of the forest.”
One might suggest that when Fevola is pulling you up on political correctness you know you’ve got a problem. Newman of course did not apologise, received no reprimand of any kind and still hosts the show.
Young Kangaroos recruit Majak Daw, who is the first African-born player in the AFL has copped a large amount of vilification from barrackers. In June 2011 he was hailed as a hero by the AFL and even then Victorian Premier Ted Bailliieu for standing up to racism he received during a match from a spectator. After alerting the AFL the supporter involved was banned from matches.
How come it is that the responsibility falls on young players to stand up to their own vilification? Shouldn’t senior plays, especially those in leadership positions and with the ethnicity of power also be taking a stand? After all there are were other players on the field who hear the slurs and say nothing.
When Goodes stood up to the racist slur in last year’s game he said that had received similar racist attacks throughout his career however it was only now as a senior player he felt able to raise the issue. Since then Goodes has won the Australian of the Year award and has hence thrown racism in sport into the spotlight, the much needed discussion was long overdue.
At the end of the day, in any situation, the responsibility and capacity for stopping racism comes back to those in the position of power. It is only white-people and white-dominated institutions who have the ability to set the guidelines over what is acceptable.
If the AFL wants to take racism seriously it needs to draw those at the top inline not just the spectators. People like Eddie McGuire and Sam Newman set the tone for what is acceptable behaviour in the sport.
Unless the AFL take ‘zero-tolerance’ as an absolute and clearly set and enforce punishments for vilification at all levels of the sport, it’s hard to take their rhetoric seriously. Until then racism in the game will continue to be somewhat shaped by what the community and broader society feel is acceptable, which unfortunately, is still a lot.
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