Olympic gold medallist and ex-federal Senator Nova Peris has called on the AFL to lift its game in the fight against racism
Olympic gold medallist Nova Peris has called on the AFL to lift its game in the fight against racism after the deplorable attack on Carlton’s Eddie Betts just days after football returned.
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Olympic gold medallist and ex-federal Senator Nova Peris has called on the AFL to lift its game in the fight against racism.
Peris said the weekend’s racial attack on Carlton’s Eddie Betts was another deplorable example of what the game’s indigenous stars were enduring.
Essendon on Monday said it was still attempting to identify the supporter who posted an image of a monkey in reference to Betts in a round where all players took a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“If the person is a member, the club will immediately cancel their Essendon membership,” the club said.
But Peris, a member of Essendon’s reconciliation committee, said she was disgusted by the post and disappointed the AFL had not called a snap press conference to condemn it.
“A good leader would take charge and say, ‘No – see you later champ’,” Peris said.
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“If we want change, it’s got to come from the leadership – they are the ones that are going to take us there.
“If you sit and do nothing, the same s--- is going to keep happening.”
Peris said she knew of multiple indigenous AFL players still “too scared” to speak up against racism in fear they would receive the same “ridicule” that drove Adam Goodes from the game.
She said Eddie McGuire’s continued failure to take responsibility for his ‘King Kong’ slur against Goodes and Collingwood’s ongoing dispute with Heritier Lumumba did not help in shifting attitudes.
“I know Eddie. I have a picture of us from 1997 when he interviewed me when I was swapping from hockey to athletics,” Peris said.
“Eddie has a heart, but if you can’t truly acknowledge when you are wrong about something, then the message that gives to everyone else is, ‘Well, he didn’t have to acknowledge he was wrong, so therefore it can’t be wrong’.”
Peris said it would be a game changer if McGuire stood up and owned his mistake.
“Deep down there is a beautiful side to Eddie, but Eddie can become an even more beautifully-souled person by doing that,” she said.
Of the Lumumba dispute, Peris said Collingwood needed to say sorry.
“It’s easy to apologise. Acknowledge his hurt. Acknowledge that back then you got it wrong, because that’s all he wants,” she said.
“That club stunted his growth and his potential to be an even more brilliant football player because of the way he was made to feel as a black man. And that is why we all need to change our mindset.
“It’s not a race war, it’s a human equality war.”
When asked for comment on the Betts post, AFL boss Gillon McLachlan told the Herald Sun: “The very reason players and officials took a knee on the weekend was to show support to all the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players and to demonstrate as a collective that racism has no place in football or our community.
“Racism is abhorrent and causes great harm and trauma, it is not a minor matter.
“On a weekend where we had an opportunity to listen and to learn from our players on the impact that racism has on them, their families and friends, this has again demonstrated why we need to continue to do everything we can to oppose racism wherever and whenever it occurs.”
The league said the AFL integrity team was investigating the origin of the Betts post.
AFL Players’ Association chief Paul Marsh said he was shattered that Betts was so consistently racially abused.
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“Sadly this has happened to him so many times, but it still hurts and I think there would be very few indigenous players who haven’t been vilified in some way, shape or form,” Marsh said.
Blues teammate Sam Docherty said: “Anyone that’s asking a question about why we’re taking a knee pre-game or why we’re trying to make a difference, why we’re trying to actually do something about it – this is the exact reason why.
“I can’t understand what that does to Eddie, and I never will – and I don’t think any of us will, that don’t go through that.”