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Australia is a nation that is home to people of a variety of different cultural backgrounds. throughout Australia’s short but eventful history many individuals hailing from these varying cultural backgrounds have made names for themselves in Australian sport.
However one issue has plagued these athletes and Australian sport in general for almost a century. That issue is racism. Last Saturday night the most recent racial attack occurred during the AFL match between the Adelaide Crows and Port Power, where a banana was thrown by a Port supporter at Eddie Betts.
That event coupled with my own experiences over the past week has motivated me to write this article and to formally stand up against racism of any form.
One of the earliest recorded examples of racism in Australian sport came about in the 1930s. An indigenous cricket bowler by the name of Eddie Gilbert, who once famously took the wicket of Sir Donald Bradman, was excluded from receiving the sporting honours he deserved simply because of his indigenous heritage.
Since then many unfortunate racial incidents occurred and frustratingly still occur on Australia’s sporting fields. Some of you may recall the racial slurs launched at the touring Cricket nations during the summer of 2005-06 or the Adam Goodes incident from 2013. Racism has occurred in every sport in Australia at some point in the last century.
Given the extraordinary efforts that the professional sporting clubs and federations go to in Australia to eradicate racism and promote equality, one would think that this issue would have become a thing of the past by now. Sadly that is not the case as currently one in five Australians have experienced at sporting events and frustratingly only one in three stand up to racism. If Australia is to truly become united then we must all stand up and kick racism out of our games.
Last week I was the author of a controversial article that stated that if football continues to rise at its current rate, it will in the decades to come overtake Aussie rules as Australia’s top sport.
I received the angry feedback that I expected but what I also unfortunately received was a racial comment on social media labelling me as an unwanted immigrant. Yes I am of European heritage but I was born and have been raised in Australia.
For the first time in my life I felt as though I had experienced what so many other Australians have tragically experienced in their lives, that sense of a lack of identity and the feeling of being unwanted. Do not mistake this as a sob story, I know that this minor incident cannot compare to those that so many other Australians have experienced but what happened to me last week made me realise that something must be done.
Sport is something that should unite Australia and its people and not be a means to segregate and condescend.
The manner in which the Port Adelaide AFL club has handled the incident that occurred last Saturday night is to be commended. Instead of publicly shamming the individual, it is understood that the club has reached out to perpetrator and has begun to educate her on the negative impacts on racism and the importance of understanding the cultures of other members in the community.
Simply banning this woman from attending future matches would not have been the way to go, education is what is needed and is what is being provided. The manner in which the majority of people on social media and in the community have also joined together to say no to racism is truly something for Australia to be proud of as it shows that there is hope that Australian sport can still bring people together.
Australian sport is now more multicultural than it has ever been and that is something for us all to be proud of. Our national teams are filled with athletes from a vast variety of cultural backgrounds and beliefs, but the fact that these differing individuals are united and unite as all when we see them wearing the green and gold of Australia makes me believe that Australia can beat racism.
My personal experiences over the past week have not deterred me from voicing my opinion regarding sport in Australia. For once the war between Australia’s sporting codes must be put to one side as standing up against racism in Australian sport is something for us all to undertake, I urge you all to join the fight. As I am, you are, we are Australian.
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