Adelaide Crows star forward Eddie Betts has once again become a victim of racism after a comment was left on an Instagram post, labelling Betts as a "monkey".
Prior to the Crows' 3-point loss to Fremantle last Sunday, Betts posed for a selfie with a Fremantle fan. The photo later appeared on his Instagram story with the caption, "I have time for everyone". Later on, Betts posted a photo of the comments section of the post, where an Instagram user left a comment that said, "Why with a monkey". Betts labelled the photo with, "I have no time for this". Richmond star defender Alex Rance defended the champion forward, stating that the comment by the unknown user was "backward and unacceptable". "I'm still so astounded and shocked that this still happens in society today," Rance said. "At what point did humanity ever become second place to such a trivial thing as a game? It is just a game that we play. We understand that it brings so much enjoyment and happiness to people's lives, but why aren't we focusing on that? "Why aren't we focusing on the love and respect and excitement and celebration that the game provides? "Eddie Betts, of all players, is someone you could say brings that excitement and passion to our game, and it's so frustrating at this point this is still happening in our society. "I don't think the players can have a strong enough stance on this." AFLPA chief executive Paul Marsh released a statement on Tuesday, condemning the comment. "It's unacceptable that our indigenous members continue to be racially vilified over the fence during games, in the community and in this instance, on social media," Marsh said. "Despite the outstanding leadership indigenous players continue to display both on and off the field, they still remain targets for such shameful behaviour. "This most recent incident involving Eddie Betts provides another opportunity to educate people about the significant hurt these types of words can cause a player, his or her family and their community." Betts has been a target of racism many times before, with the most recent incident occurring in 2016 during a showdown clash at Adelaide Oval. A woman threw a banana towards Betts, who later forgave the supporter and hoped that racism towards football players would end.
0 Comments
|
SOCIAL MEDIA
Archives |