Port Adelaide CEO Matthew Richardson addresses how AFL should support First Nations players

Port Adelaide CEO Matthew Richardson wants the AFL and the wider footy industry to look inwards at how Indigenous players are treated, to ensure they avoid stars being lost to the game.

Port Adelaide chief executive Matthew Richardson says the club wants the league and the wider footy industry to look deeply at how First Nations players can be better supported to avoid another Adam Goodes scenario.

Richardson said the Power would ask Indigenous and multicultural players for their perspectives on historical racist incidents in the hope that another player is not lost to the game.

Ahead of its Sir Doug Nicholls Round game against Geelong, in which it will be known as Yartapuulti, the Power will hold a cultural awareness information session for media that will look at First Nations people, their culture, their communities and historical key issues that have impacted their lives and how they have been portrayed.

The Power brought to light the plight of AFL’s Indigenous players in the fallout from the Willie Rioli saga. Picture: Michael Klein

Richardson said it was the right time to have the discussion on an important topic.

“Over the next two weeks we are going to celebrate the amazing First Nations players and what they bring to the game, but we are concerned about the numbers of First Nations in the game,” he said.

“There is a decline.

“Well we’ve got to dig into that and start to understand are there things that we are doing or we could do better to better support them and keep them in the game.”

It comes after the Power raised concerns about how incidents involving racist comments or remarks to First Nations and multicultural players were portrayed in the media and on social media.

This was in the wake of how the club perceived the backlash to the Willie Rioli saga last week, where he was eventually suspended for one-game for a threat to Bulldogs defender Bailey Dale in a message.

Richardson said the footy industry could use this to reflect and ensure Rioli, or any other Indigenous player is not lost to the game.

Port Adelaide CEO Matthew Richardson. Picture: Brenton Edwards

“You only have to look back at instances in the past where that has happened and I guess in that we are asking those people and past players how do they feel?” he said.

“At the moment it has all been directed at Willie but how does that make other First Nations players feel?

“That is the opportunity for all of us, to look into the past to reflect on how we have handled these situations and now knowing what we know now how would we do it differently?

“It feels like we are at that point again. As a number of people have said, we don’t want another Adam Goodes who is disconnected and disengaged from the game.

“What have we learnt from that? And that is really the question, if you look at last week and you compare it, what have all of us learnt from that?”

It comes after the Power raised that it believed the AFL could do a lot more in this space and how on field comments that may not seem racial on the surface, can be interpreted as racist to a First Nations or multicultural person because of their experiences.

That followed on from the fallout of Rioli’s Instagram post detailing his “hatred” of Hawthorn after the Gather Round clash.

Richardson again stressed that Rioli knew he was in the wrong for his message threatening Dale last week, as well as the post regarding the Hawks, and the club was continuing to work with him on this.

But he said there was more the footy industry could do to understand the remarks and experiences that trigger something like this, not just for Rioli but for other Indigenous players.

“There was an incident three weeks ago in the Hawthorn game and again everyone was suggesting that it was Willie,” Richardson said.

Rioli missed Showdown 57. Picture: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images

“No-one ever really went into well why is Willie playing angry? Why is this happening? No one dug into that.

“So when then last week, yes it happened again, and as we have reiterated Willie knows it was wrong but again the same issues.

“No-one is looking beyond this, and yes there’s a pattern of behaviour with Willie Rioli here but what about the pattern of behaviour on the other side that is actually leading to that?

“If you go back in the history of Indigenous players in our game there is a pattern of behaviour.

“It can’t always be on them, it has to be on society, the clubs, the AFL, what support are we putting around players, but also the responsibility of fans, media, in terms of how we think about these issues.”

Originally published as Port Adelaide CEO Matthew Richardson addresses how AFL should support First Nations players