Essendon on hunt for fan who subjected Eddie Betts to racist abuse
Essendon will take action against a supporter who racially abused Carlton star Eddie Betts on social media if he is found to be a member.
Essendon said they will immediately ban a supporter who racially abused Carlton star Eddie Betts on social media if they find he is a member of the club.
As Carlton’s co-captain Sam Docherty spoke of the hurt the entire club felt at the racism directed towards the veteran forward on social media, the Bombers said they were yet to identify the culprit behind the post.
The Bombers, who have offered Betts an apology, are calling for assistance from club supporters to identify the harasser, who has since closed their account.
“Eddie Betts is a wonderful role model and a champion of our game, and has made an incredible contribution to the game of AFL, both on and off the field,” the club said in a statement.
“We acknowledge Eddie is a proud Wirangu Kokatha man. Today we stand in total unity with Eddie Betts, the Carlton Football Club and the AFL in a bid to stamp out racism in our game. It simply has to stop.
“On behalf of the Essendon Football Club, we apologise to not only Eddie Betts, but the entire indigenous community across our game, for this abhorrent racial vilification.
“The Essendon Football Club strongly condemns any form of racism. Racism has absolutely no place in our society. This must stop now. It starts with all of us.”
Docherty addressed the issue earlier on Monday at Carlton’s headquarters, saying it was disgraceful incidents such as this that prompted the competition-wide initiative on the weekend to support the Black Lives Matters movement.
“I think what we’re trying to do is just make it right,” Docherty said.
“He’s one of our teammates, one of our most loved figures at our footy club and to see him vilified like that, it does hurt us.
“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.
“So from a footy club perspective we’ve just got to wrap our arms around him and being silent hasn’t worked for a number of years, so as an industry and as a footy club we’ve got to stand behind our indigenous players and make a stand.”
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