AFL Players take extraordinary action against racist Eddie Betts fan
The AFL Players Association are set to name and shame the fan who racially vilified Adelaide Crows star Eddie Betts.
On Saturday night, Betts called out a ‘fan’ who’d posted a disgraceful comment on a photo of him arriving at AFLX on Friday.
The ‘fan’ had written ‘monkey see monkey do’ on the photo.
“When will it stop, why can’t we just play footy?” Betts wrote as he highlighted the comment.
“Why can’t we just all get along?”
Disgusting. Cowardly. Racist. @ferris.pete
A post shared by Patrick Dangerfield (@patrickdangerfield) on Feb 23, 2019 at 2:01am PST
The abuse sparked outrage from Betts’ peers, and the AFLPA are now set to take the extraordinary step of identifying and naming the fan.
“It’s disappointing that you’ve got to resort to this because we don’t know these people but the reality of it is you’re faced with two choices when you see this stuff,” AFLPA CEO Paul Marsh told SEN Radio on Monday.
“You either walk past it or you do something about it and we have decided to do something about it.
“Unfortunately it is name and shame because they are faceless these people.
“We’ve just got to keep sending a message that it’s not good enough because our indigenous and multicultural players have had a gutful of it and it’s just not fair.
“They’ve done so much for our game and this stuff, it just tarnishes what they’re doing and it tarnishes the sport in general.”
Unfortunately for Betts it’s not the first time he’s had to deal with racial vilification.
He’s been the focus of several vile social media slurs throughout his career, while also having a banana thrown at him during a game in 2016.
Zach Tuohy speaks out against the racism towards Eddie Betts. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/okSRDC8jQB
— 7AFL (@7AFL) February 24, 2019
We at Rainbow Crows oppose all forms of discrimination. We are appalled by recent comments made to Eddie Betts, whom not only wows us on the field, but actively supports Rainbow Crows and passionately promotes kindness to all. Eddie, you are an inspiration. pic.twitter.com/Et7jBtG5BX
— Rainbow Crows (@crows_rainbow) February 24, 2019
It is wrong. It has no place. IT MUST STOP. #WeFlyAsOne https://t.co/Q0vn9pConP
— Andrew Fagan (@Fages1) February 23, 2019
Just a coward sitting behind a keyboard. pic.twitter.com/z6Ev8Cq0va
— Shaun Burgoyne (@ShaunBurgoyne9) February 23, 2019