Ex-NRL star Andrew Fifita returns to field after accusing rivals on the Central Coast of racism
Former Australian forward Andrew Fifita’s Woy Woy Roosters went down in a one-point thriller to Toukley Hawks, however, the battle on the park was a side story to the ugly racism scandal rocking Rugby League Central Coast.
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Former Australian forward Andrew Fifita’s Woy Woy Roosters went down in a one-point thriller to Toukley Hawks, however, the battle on the park was a side story to the ugly racism scandal rocking Rugby League Central Coast.
It was the second game the Roosters have played since the Terrigal Sharks and Erina Eagles forfeited their games with Fifita’s club, with the ex-Sharks premiership-winning forward recently claiming the teams were “supporting racism”.
In conjunction with RLCC, the NSWRL reprimanded Fifita this week for the post.
It came before NSWRL banned a footy fan for 20 years over racist abuse Fifita received on Instagram.
Fifita returned to the field on Sunday in front of a packed Darren Kennedy Oval at Toukley as sledges were thrown his way right from the opening whistle.
A bunch of alcohol-fuelled fans yelled every time he was involved in the play, laughing when he dropped the ball and erupting when he was given his marching orders after copping 10 minutes in the sin bin.
One fan said “keep racking up those offloads Fifita you f--king clown” while another called him “soft” and “scared”.
The sledges extended to other Roosters players, with one fan calling Fifita’s teammate an “absolute grub”.
With the game in the balance, the Hawks secured a 13-12 win and unsurprisingly fans from both sides had completely different takes on the ongoing saga.
One Hawks fan told The Daily Telegraph he thought Fifita was an “innocent party”, but “guilty by association” with the Roosters.
He denied there was a racism problem, claiming “it’s an easy excuse to go to every time something doesn’t go their way” before saying Woy Woy was the “Mount Druitt of The Central Coast”.
The parents of one of the Roosters’ players said racism was league-wide, before saying the forfeiting teams were trying to put pressure on the competition to throw Woy Woy out.
The match comes after the chairman of RLCC Nathan Waugh said he was “disappointed” the former Test representative named three clubs as “supporters of racism”.
“I think [the three clubs] would deny this and the clubs would have some concerns in relation to [Fifita’s] comments,” Waugh said.
“They’d certainly be disappointed being labelled that. There are some very good people in those clubs.
“In relation to the post, we would hope Andrew would have a look at that in respect to comments around the Terrigal, Erina and Toukley clubs.
“I have been in discussions with those clubs and people at those clubs certainly respect Indigenous people and marginalised communities so to be branded supporters of racism was quite disappointing for them.
“Ultimately, their reasons for forfeiting were specifically in relation to their concerns around safety of spectators. Any club or person in general, if they don’t feel safe, they have the right to make their own decisions.”
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