Zac Williams, GWS Giants make stand, blast racist ‘crap’ from online trolls
GWS star Zac Williams insists racist abuse aimed at one indigenous player is an insult and hurtful to all, with Giants coach Leon Cameron adamant it’s time ‘this sort of crap’ is banished once and for all.
Zac Williams insists racist abuse aimed at one indigenous player is an insult and hurtful to all with Giants coach Leon Cameron adamant it’s time ‘this sort of crap’ is banished once and for all.
Following offensive comments directed at West Coast’s Liam Ryan, the Giants have expressed their support for the targeted player and their disgust that such behaviour continues to take place in 2019.
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Aboriginal trio Williams, Jeremy Finlayson and Ian ‘Bobby’ Hill stood behind Cameron as the coach addressed the issue yesterday ahead of this weekend’s clash with West Coast Eagles.
Williams said while the individual target in this particular case was Ryan (a Richmond member has since been banned by the club for two years) it was not one player left feeling hurt and insulted. The pain goes far beyond that.
“It is a surprise, the extent and the hurtful things that people say just to bring one individual down,” Williams said. “It doesn’t affect just the individual, I don’t think people realise, it actually affects every indigenous player in the comp and their families.
“We’re just fully behind him (Liam) and showing all the support we can. The AFL and Richmond, with what they’ve done in suspending one of their members, I think stuff like that will really go a long way to stamping it out of the game.”
Williams’ coach said tackling the scourge of racism was ‘hugely important’ and that those guilty of such disgusting abuse needed to be called up — whatever the arena, football or otherwise.
“This sort of crap’s being going on for way too long, behind the scenes, in the open,” Cameron said.
“As a club, we’ve got three fine young boys behind us and it affects them greatly. It’s not just our footy club, it’s the entire AFL community. We’re really united behind West Coast, we play them this week, but we’re united and we’re united behind young Liam Ryan and the crap that’s gone his way in the past week or so.
“As a footy club it’s sort of like enough’s enough and it’s not just from the Giants point of view, it’s from the entire community. It’s gone on far too long.
“If we do see it, we need to call it out. Calling it out is the only way to stop it. And if we all play our role in that then hopefully we can go a long way to eliminating it.”
As for the football, the Giants head west looking to build on their round one thrashing of Essendon. But Cameron is taking nothing for granted.
“Round one, so much can happen. It’s quite unique,” he said. “Really proud our guys played a really good brand. But it’s gone, we won, sang the song and in three days’ time we play the Eagles. We know we have a huge challenge against the reigning premiers. We know what’s coming our way on Saturday night.
“They’re really hard to beat over there. I think it’s going to be an enthralling clash on Saturday night.”
Harry Perryman will be out for a few weeks with the punctured he suffered against Essendon and Cameron said Toby Greene was no certainty to make the trip west. “Toby Greene’s a bit sore, we’ve got to assess him,” the Giants coach said. “Again, we have to make sure we make good, smart decisions (about Green) in the earlier part of the year.”
Josh Kelly is a strong chance to feature though.
“He’s trained really, really well,” Cameron said.
“He’s probably more likely than unlikely. But we’ll probably heavily consider Nick Haynes as well.”
As for the club’s newly named Giants Stadium, board member Jimmy Bartel weighed in yesterday on the potential dispute with Sydney Thunder, with the BBL franchise yet to be convinced over playing in an AGL-branded stadium.
“They’re throwing their toys out of the cot here,” Bartel told Macquarie Sports Radio.
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