St Kilda still looking for fan who racially abused Jamarra Ugle-Hagan

One of the AFL’s most memorable moments involved a St Kilda legend’s stand against racism, and the club won’t let up after another incident.

Bulldog Jamarra Ugle-Hagan was racially abused by a fan. Picture: Michael Klein

The St Kilda fan who racially abused Western Bulldog young gun Jamarra Ugle-Hagan will be found and banned from the game by the club as chief executive Simon Lethlean lamented the sadness of the situation nearly 30 years after club legend Nicky Winmar’s historic stance.

Ugle-Hagan was given Monday away from the club after being impacted by the comments, allegedly from a St Kilda fan, which were first called out on social media and labelled “horrific”.

They are being investigated by the AFL integrity unit as it works with St Kilda to identify the fan involved.

On Monday, Lethlean said if the fan was a Saints member, “absolutely” their membership would be cancelled as he pointed out the 30th anniversary of club legend Winmar’s stance was fast approaching and how inappropriate it was to still have to deal with such incidents.

In 1993, Winmar raised his Saints jumper and pointed to his chest in response to racist comments from Collingwood fans hurled at him relentlessly during a match at Victoria Park, a moment that remains poignant in the AFL’s ongoing fight against racism.

“It‘s 30 years and two weeks since Nicky Winmar made (his) statement … to still be dealing with stuff like this now is completely inappropriate,” Lethlean said on Monday.

“We all despair if a player of any background can‘t feel safe in their workplace and people in the crowd think it’s OK to say those things.

Nicky Winmar lifts his jumper and points to the colour of his skin in 1993. Pic John Feder

“We encourage all fans to call out this behaviour, to stop it, to teach your kids what is right.

“Nicky did what he did because he didn’t feel safe and feel respected. It’s still happening.

“All we can do is call it out, educate, support our people and hope that it stops.”

Lethlean said education was as important as punishment but that would come should the fan be identified.

“We will do all in our power to find out who that was in the crowd,” he said,

“The allegations of what was said was totally inappropriate. If we can find who it was, they are not welcome at our games.

“I’m not sure what the ban will be, but they are certainly not welcome at our games. We want to find them, speak to them, educate them, they are not coming back to St Kilda games anytime soon.”

Originally published as St Kilda still looking for fan who racially abused Jamarra Ugle-Hagan