Right: hero or villain? The incessant booing of Adam Goodes by football crowds took its toll. Goodes left the game for a time while behind him controversy raged, with some commentators calling Goodes' actions 'a tantrum'.
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Arguments in favour of harsher penalties for racially abusive football fans
1. Football stadiums are not privileged spaces where laws and penalties do not apply
It has been argued that AFL crowds cannot be treated as a group separate from the rest of Australian society, and thus the same standard of civil behaviour should be expected of barracking fans as is expected of adults in any public place.
Colin Tatz, in his 1995 study 'Aborigines in Sport: Obstacle Race', stated, ' Sport is not divorced from life, from the civic culture of a society, from its institutions and processes, its economic, legal and educational systems, its national politics and foreign relations.'
On July 31, 2015, The Australian Human Rights Commission published a joint statement from 158 organisations across Australia condemning the booing of Adam Goodes and indicating that it could not be excused as 'just banter'. The statement contends, 'To dismiss claims of racism as just banter is to use football as a shield for prejudice. Legitimate barracking for one's team is a tradition that has been alive as long as the game itself but, when such behaviour coincides with cultural displays and Goodes' efforts to stop racism, it is clear that a line has been crossed to racial abuse.'
More recently, the AFL Players' Indigenous Advisory Board has also stated that enthusiastic barracking is not a justification for racist abuse. The Board has written, 'We want football fans to barrack for their club with passion, but shouting abuse at an opposition player and targeting their race needs to stop.'
The Board has not only claimed that football barracking does not excuse racism, it has argued that racist behaviour is contrary to the spirit of the game. It has stated, 'Anyone who thinks that this is an acceptable way to act is no football fan.'
Other commentators have argued that barracking is not simply a thoughtless act for which fans cannot be held responsible and that the AFL has to put penalties in place to encourage supporters to consider what they are saying.
An editorial published in The Age on April 13, 2017, stated, 'Some say racist taunts "just happen" on the spur of the moment, making the excuse that passionate footy fans "just get carried away". But if each hateful insult comes at a financial cost, chances are a lot more likely that fans would think twice.'
2. Current penalties and processes have not prevented football fans from being racially abusive
Many commentators have claimed that the recurrence of racist abuse among AFL fans demonstrates that current measures to discourage such behaviour have been unsuccessful.
On April 12, 2017, The Australian's senior sports commentator, Patrick Smith, stated, 'Perhaps people don't care. Or at least don't care enough anymore. Or never really understood.
Unpleasant incidents involving racial vilification continue at AFL grounds no matter what has gone before them.
There have been regular incidents of vilification in the indigenous game. Brilliant Aboriginal players Nicky Winmar and Michael Long signalled it to the world in the 1990s. It used to be everywhere, on the ground and in the stands.
And even well-intentioned education programs and television campaigns cannot prevent it.'
Smith then detailed the systemic booing, which led to Indigenous player Adam Goodes leaving the game, as proof that the AFL is currently unable to regulate crowd behaviour.
Smith stated, 'It was a critical moment in AFL football as well as the nation's sport. Even though Goodes and others including Sydney officials had said that Goodes believed the booing an expression of racism, the booing only got louder. Not even when players of opposition sides asked their fans not to boo Goodes did the unpleasantness stop...
Large sections of the AFL crowd would not be told by anyone what was racist behaviour... They were comfortable that their behaviour did not constitute vilification but it did devastate Goodes and humbled the AFL.'
AFL Players' Indigenous Advisory Board chair Shaun Burgoyne has stressed that current instances of racist behaviour by fans are not acceptable and that something further needs to be done to address the problem.
Burgoyne has stated on behalf of the Board, 'We're sad that our brothers and sisters are still experiencing racial vilification despite the ongoing education and promotion done within the football industry and wider society.
This has been happening for far too long and we, as indigenous footballers, have had enough. We deserve more respect than we are being shown.'
The same point has been made in an editorial published in The Age on April 13, 2017. The editorial states, 'The frustrating, distressing truth is that this shameful behaviour keeps happening. It happened again just last weekend in Adelaide.
It was 22 years ago that Michael Long famously called football out on racism, making an official complaint about a racist sledge by Damian Monkhorst. This case and Nicky Winmar's famous jumper lift two years earlier proved turning points for race relations in football and led to the AFL's groundbreaking racial anti-vilification policy
But two decades on, and despite some impressive work by the AFL to address this issue, the taunts keep coming. It is only two seasons ago that Adam Goodes was racially bullied, and disgracefully forced off the ground.'
The editorial concluded by calling for the AFL to impose large fines on fans who racially abuse players. The editorial states, 'The AFL, Indigenous players and many others have for more than two decades worked in good faith at changing attitudes, but more needs to be done.
The Age supports the use of a financial stick to drive this important lesson home. We understand that real change takes time, but surely, enough is enough.'
3. Allowing racial abuse among AFL crowds is poor role modelling for children
Some of those who argue for fines against fans who utter racial abuse and for an all-of-League approach to the problem claim these measures are necessary to protect children against poor role modelling.
According to this line of argument, sporting competitions are powerful learning environments for children where they are exposed to athletes whom they are likely to hero-worship and regard as role models. Some commentators have noted that if children are also exposed to racism in the context of AFL games they may come to accept racist attitudes as normal or even desirable.
ABC Indigenous sports commentator Charlie King has stressed that modelling racism and denigrating Indigenous sporting heroes can have a particularly negative effect on Indigenous children. King has stated, 'If we start attacking the Indigenous community's heroes that sends a very negative message out to young people and particularly young Indigenous people.'
Fear of negative role modelling makes some parents reluctant to take their children to AFL games. In August 2016, after the incident in which a female fan threw a banana at Eddie Betts, another fan was reported as saying he just wanted to take his family to an AFL game unmolested by spectators shouting foul language or racist taunts.
An Age editorial published on April 13, 2017, stressed that the behaviour children see now will shape their adult behaviour. The editorial stated, 'Children watching at home today [must] know where to draw the line when they come to the stadiums as adults.'
4. Racial abuse injures Indigenous players, their families and all Indigenous Australians
The on-going racist abuse which some AFL players have endured from fans is a cause of pain and distress to them, their families and to all Indigenous Australians.
Hawthorn and Power premiership player, Shaun Burgoyne, speaking in his capacity as AFL Players' Indigenous Advisory Board chair, has stated, 'This has been happening for far too long and we, as Indigenous footballers, have had enough. We deserve more respect than we are being shown.
The abuse directed towards players is more than just words and people need to understand the impact that it has on the player, their family, their children and their community.
While it's heartening that these incidents are being called out, there's a lot of work to do before we can claim to be a truly inclusive game.'
AFL players and administrators have acknowledged the damaging effect that racial abuse has on Indigenous players and their families. Following the incidents on April 8, 2017, the Crows chief executive Andrew Fagan claimed that his club 'strongly' condemned racial vilification. Fagan stated, 'In listening to our playing group and our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players in particular, it is clear how damaging and impactful racism is to them and their families.'
It has been noted that racist abuse directed at Indigenous AFL players affects all other Indigenous Australians. Indigenous sports players are role models for their people and are seen as representative of high achievement among other Indigenous Australians. It is therefore particularly damaging to have these players face abuse because of their skin colour.
Indigenous journalist, Douglas Smith, has stated, '[The abusive fan's] words do not only affect Eddie Betts, but every indigenous person in this country, just like the Adam Goodes saga, which divided a nation.'
Smith further explained, 'For many indigenous Australians, myself included, it didn't just feel like they were booing Adam Goodes. It felt like they were booing the rest of us too and you just pray that if you go to a game, no one starts doing it in front of you.
Professional sport in Australia isn't just a game and professional indigenous athletes are not just regular people. They are role models...the Aboriginal community turn to in times of personal hardships and misery, which is a lot of the time.
When we see someone we look up to so much being put down because of the colour of their skin, it digs away at us, it causes anxiety and it makes us feel like second-class citizens in our country.'
5. Fines and across-League action have worked to stop other undesirable player and coach behaviours and fines have had an impact on some crowd behaviours
Many critics, commentators and AFL administrators have acknowledged that the problem of fan-based racial vilification within Australian Rules football has to be addressed more strongly. One of the suggestions that has been made is for severe fines to be imposed on fans who make racially abusive remarks.
Fines have been one of the disincentives used by the AFL to discourage racist sledging between players. Players found guilty of having made racists comments about other players have been banned from playing in one or more games, which is effectively a fine as it means they are deprived of the match payments they would normally receive. Players have also had fines imposed upon them, ranging from $5,000 to $20,000. The money has been donated to a charity nominated by either the vilified player or his club.
Fines are a routine means of penalising AFL players and clubs for conduct that violates the rules of the code. For example, in June 2016, North Melbourne coach Brad Scott was fined $30,000 for accusing umpires of bias. As the coach was seen as speaking on behalf of his club, North Melbourne was fined $50,000. In March, 2016, the AFL Players Association reprimanded and fined five player managers for betting on AFL markets during 2015. They were fined between $500 and $1000 for placing bets of no more than $100. In November, 2016, seven clubs were fined for inadvertently breaching the League's anti-doping regulations. The clubs were fined $2,500 per infringing player.
It has been noted that not only have fines helped to modify players', coaches' and clubs' behaviour, they have also served to change fan behaviour.
Individual ground owners impose fines for pitch invasion. The action is also the criminal offence of trespass and offenders are generally charged.
In an editorial published on April 13, 2017, The Age stated, 'The Age supports calls for fines for racist taunts at the footy. We have seen the sting of a financial penalty work in many areas where behaviour change is needed. Think of speeding and red lights...[F]ines have helped to deal with another blight in sport, ground invasions.'
The editorial quotes a report from Age reporter Greg Baum, in which he stated, 'When the penalty for ground invasion at the MCG, for instance, was in a multiple of tens of dollars, it was a bit of a lark, almost a weekly occurrence ... Now that it is in the thousands of dollars, ranging up to nearly $10,000, and fans are repeatedly warned about this, it almost never happens.'
It has also been proposed that stricter penalties, including lifetime bans on club members who have been found guilty of racial abuse, should be uniformly imposed. Such punishments should be implemented by the League, rather than individual clubs, so that no offending fan would be in any doubt as to the punishment he or she would receive.
The AFL's general manager of inclusion and social policy, Tanya Hosch, has stated, 'We need to have consistent processes and standards and work with all the different parties who've got responsibilities to make sure that our games are safe for everybody.'