Port Noarlunga racism: SFL committee hands down outcome in case of abuse at Flagstaff Hill
Indigenous footballers who were subject to racial abuse during a match have been left “feeling sick to the stomach” after a Southern Football League panel handed down its verdict.
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Port Noarlunga players say they are shocked and disappointed with a decision handed down by the Southern Football League’s investigation committee following a case of racial abuse.
The SFL announced on Tuesday its inquiry found indigenous players from Port Noarlunga were subject to racial taunts during a match against Flagstaff Hill on August 1.
However, following a three-hour hearing on Monday night, the investigation committee also determined it was satisfied the perpetrators were not officials or players from Flagstaff Hill Football Club.
In a statement, the SFL said the identities of those responsible for the abuse could not be confirmed by either club.
The league investigation committee did find Flagstaff Hill “failed to take appropriate action to identify and remove the perpetrators from the event” and handed the club a formal reprimand.
The SFL’s statement also said it had warned the Falcons that any repeated racism behaviour would result in severe sanctions.
But Connor Sampson, an indigenous player at Port Noarlunga who lined up in the match, said the investigation had failed those subjected to the racist taunts.
Sampson said more should have done more to find the perpetrators and a harsher penalty, including banning those involved from attending games, needed to be handed down.
“The best decision that they could come up with was a warning and no consequences what so ever,” Sampson said.
“This has left us brothers feeling sick to the stomach and stuck with this anger for the rest of our lives because it took guts for us to come out and point this out.
“They’ve kind of just swept it under the carpet without actually looking further into the investigation and giving a proper punishment to the people who were saying those horrible things to us.
“I think that (banning them) would be the best punishment they could get.
“It hurt us massively and left a black spot on my heart.”
Ex-Glenelg SANFL livewire Milera labelled the outcome as “disgusting”.
“There should be no warning when it comes to racism,” Milera said.
“I call upon our community to hold the people responsible accountable.”
Port Noarlunga coach Clint Howes said the warning was “a slap on the wrist”.
“From my perspective, if there was ever an opportunity to set a precedent from an organisation to say there’s zero tolerance for it, this was it,” Howes said.
“Three non-indigenous men have made the decision and there’s a cultural understanding that needed to be taken into consideration when dealing with the incident.
“For the boys, it’s a slap on the wrist and they (the supporters) walk away with their hands clean and our players have to live with it for the rest of their lives.”
The Messenger has contacted Flagstaff Hill but calls were not answered by presstime.
The SFL’s investigation committee is continuing to look into a second off field incident that involved a large number of spectators at the same football match.
The match between Flagstaff Hill and Port Noarlunga at Flagstaff Hill was stopped for about five minutes midway through the last quarter when officials and other fans intervened in an attempt to stop the abuse, directed mainly at Milera and Elijah Satala.
Another indigenous Port Noarlunga player, who asked not to be named, said some people from the crowd targeted Aboriginal players with offensive and deeply personal insults, which The Messenger decided not to repeat in full.
He said a group of spectators taunted the players with racist comments such as “look at him … typical black fella and look at those black fella moves”.
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