Sports racism intensifies, but witnesses remain silent

A University of South Australia survey of more than 2,000 spectators found half of AFL fans had witnessed racist “barracks” at matches, including name-calling.

This compares to 36 per cent of NRL fans and 27 per cent of A-League fans.

But only three per cent of AFL fans, two per cent of NRL fans and one per cent of A-League fans had used the ‘anti-social behavior’ hotline promoted at major stadiums to report racism.

The AFL apologized to Swans great Adam Goodes in 2019 for failing to support him against racism. (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS)

Fans of the three codes examined in the study said the situation had gotten worse over the past two years.

The findings revealed a significant gap between observing racism and reporting it, said Jamie Cleland, a senior lecturer at UniSA.

“The effectiveness of sanctions depends on people speaking up and witnesses responding,” he said.

Racist barracks ranged from “casual” or accidental intolerance – where the speaker may be unaware that their language is racist – to outright racists who used the anonymity of the crowd to express their hatred of others.

Bad spectator behavior at matches and on social media continues to be a problem, Dr Cleland said.

“All forms of abuse are largely ignored by other fans, either arguing that ‘it’s part of being a fan’ or simply not wanting to deal with it – even anonymously,” he said. -he declares.

All three professional leagues had implemented measures such as hotlines for anonymous reporting and lifetime bans.

“But if racist behavior and language is not systematically challenged, then it can strengthen and improve an individual’s position and it will be more likely to continue,” Dr Cleland said.

Racist behavior or language from fans is often seen as unintentional or non-malicious rather than deeply ingrained prejudice, UniSA researcher Connor MacDonald said.

“Some AFL fans who participated in our study claimed that watching live sport brought out irregular emotions in fans,” he said.

“They don’t think it’s ‘real’ racism and, at the very least, it’s not part of that person’s core beliefs and values.”

The AFL’s zero-tolerance approach to racial abuse has already led to nine spectators being banned for life since the penalty was increased to a three-year suspension at the start of the 2023 season.

But Dr Cleland said unless spectators were willing to report racism to authorities and speak out against bad behavior, racism in Australian men’s sport was unlikely to be eradicated.

“The fight against intolerance cannot be left to Indigenous and culturally diverse people,” he said.

“The onus is on white Australians, who generally have the privilege of not being the subject of racism, to call out bad behavior.”

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