Nicky Winmar lauds Jamarra Ugle-Hagan for standing up for himself as AFL hunts the person responsible for abuse
The AFL is yet to find the person who racially abused Jamarra Ugle-Hagan last week. Gillon McLachlan has spoken on the difficulties of the search and any potential life ban.
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AFL trailblazer Nicky Winmar has lauded Jamarra Ugle-Hagan “standing up for himself” after the Western Bulldogs forward reprised his famous stance against racism.
As the 30th anniversary of Winmar’s black and proud salute approaches in two weeks, Ugle-Hagan lifted his jumper to point at his skin just as the St Kilda star did at Victoria Park to create one of football’s most indelible memories.
Ugle-Hagan said he had wanted to create a “stance” after being racially abused by a St Kilda supporter last week and backed the iconic moment with a matchwinning five goal performance.
In a statement released to the Herald Sun by former St Kilda and Bulldogs player Winmar, he said players like Ugle-Hagan were accepting the baton he was keen to pass to them in the fight against racism.
Winmar had told the Herald Sun on the eve of the season he feared his children would be subjected to the same racism he faced but on Friday he was hopeful change was occurring.
“I’m proud of Jamarra for standing up for himself. It’s up to the new generations to reinforce the stance I made back in 1993,” Winmar said.
“I’m still here, still involved with the issue, but it’s been 30 years now, it’s like a big relay race, time to pass on the baton.
“I spoke to Luke Beveridge today, to thank him for supporting Jamarra, and other indigenous players at the Western Bulldogs. It’s a great club that I respect. I was welcomed and felt supported when I played for them in 1999.
“Things are getting better, with increased awareness, and kids are getting educated in schools now about racism in sport and in society, which is great. There’s still a few who can’t control their negative attitudes, all we can do is keep supporting each other, and keep calling it out.
“I also want to congratulate Jamarra for his outstanding on-field performance – five goals, keep up the good work.”
It came as AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan admitted it was “disappointing” the personal who racially abused Jamarra Ugle-Hagan’s has not been found as he lauded the Western Bulldogs’ historic response.
The league and St Kilda have not been able to identify the person and McLachlan admitted there were difficulties in banning someone from AFL games if they were not a club member.
The social media abuse levelled at the Ugle-Hagan family was from a fake account, and while people around the patron confirmed the racism she has not been found six days after the incident.
“The integrity unit are trying to track down the individual and unsuccessfully so far which is clearly disappointing,” McLachlan said.
“(They would) certainly be banned. There has to be strong accountability. There is a point where we can talk about it and educate and we are beyond that. There would be strong accountabilities, certainly for a long period of time. People revoke the right to go to the game. They don’t deserve to be there if they are going to participate.”
AFL executive Tanya Hosch told the Herald Sun this week patrons had been banned for two or three seasons but a life ban seems unlikely.
Bans are also difficult to enforce, according to McLachlan.
“There are issues with all of that. People accept you can stop memberships. You can try, There would be loopholes but you do what you can to hold the accountabilities.”
McLachlan told 3AW Ugle-Hagan’s response on and off the field had been pitch-perfect.
“As regrettable and disgusting and abhorrent as the incident was, the silver lining is we have conversations. And we get progress. What are these people thinking? What are they thinking? And hopefully people get to reflect a little bit about what the hell is going on and what are they doing?”
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