Passion for the game of Aussie rules football unites us Australians. Following the sport makes space for us to come together to celebrate and support our teams and the exciting game that footy is.
But of late, as the Black Lives Matter movement sweeps across the globe, Australia’s own issues with systematic racism and mistreatment of Indigenous populations have been brought to light, including accounts of racial vilification within the world of the AFL.
Over the past month, we’ve witnessed just how wonderful football can be as a tool for voicing change, while also learning the worst that footy represents off the Australian community.
We’ve seen AFL stars of the game take to social media to use their platforms to voice their support for the Black Lives Matter movement and ask for justice. We’ve seen every single player take a knee before the game in the first round since COVID-19 paused the competition, presenting their solidarity with the BLM initiative also.
But, we have also seen demonstrated the very worst of what footy can represent in Australia: a culture of racism and mistreatment.
Héritier Lumumbar, former Collingwood and Melbourne player has recounted that his experience at the Collingwood football club involved a culture of racist jokes and name calling, including frequently being referred to as ‘chimp’. Lumumbar also experienced being reprimanded when he called out club president Edie McGuire, when McGuire made inappropriate comments about Sydney Swans player Adam Goodes, comparing the Indigenous to player to ‘King Kong’. In his speaking out against McGuire, the club claimed Lumumbar to be ‘throwing the president under the bus.’ Only in recent months has the club begun investigations into the mistreatment endured by Lumumbar at the club, despite his allegations surfacing in 2014.
Lumumbar has since made statements that ‘racist ideas’ at Collingwood are an ‘extension of Australia’, posing an intriguing question about the AFL’s culture and how much the world of Australian rules football reflects the culture of Australian society entirely. Lumumbar also authored an article in the Guardian, titled ‘If the AFL is a ‘leading’ anti-racist organisation, why won’t it address the racism I faced?’
The AFL prides itself in its work to fight against racism. But, when the accounts of racial vilification continue to surface, the question must be asked: Are the AFL’s anti-racism policies as far as footy’s fight against racism goes? A growing chorus suggests that actions are not always flowing from the policies.
Lumumbar’s accounts aren’t the only evidence that the AFL has no real protocol to deal with racism. Swans player Adam Goodes experienced serial booing from crowds following an incident in which an audience member was racist. The crowd’s negative pressure essentially ‘booed’ Goodes out of the job.
A documentary titled The Australian Dream, explored what Goodes endured. Thus began one of the largest discussions about racism Australia had seen to date. The AFL is a big part of Australia and our country’s identity. It’s what we talk about, our economy builds upon it and it’s where we learn passion and pride. If it is proving systematically racist, isn’t Australia a reflection of that community?
The film aired last week on American screens and viewers has expressed disgust and heartbreak at the documentary, a reaction that came with far more unity than when the documentary aired in Australia. American audiences claim the documentary suggests that racism is a bigger problem in our country than in their own.
One viewer stated ‘the treatment he received for being an Indigenous Australian makes white Australia look like a bunch of Southern crackers.’
When this is considered alongside stats legend of the game Lance Franklin brought to light on his Instagram, the suggestion that systemic racism is a larger problem here than in the US seems devastatingly accurate.
Franklin posted images that said that ‘in some ways, Australia’s criminalisation of its black citizens is even more pronounced than the United States.’ The footy star continued: ‘in the US, African American populations make up about 14 per cent of the population and roughly 30 per cent of the country’s inmates. Indigenous Australians make up 3 per cent of the population and about 30 per cent of the prison population. We lock up Indigenous Australians at four times the rate of black Americans.’
Some have argued that sport should not be a place to make a political stand, including AFL media star Sam Newman, who has said on Twitter that the pre-match kneeling was about ‘division, conflict, fury, rage, angst, anarchy, disruption, group guilt, group shaming, acquiescence’. He followed ‘don’t include EVERYONE in the mob mentality, please. AFL is sport!!’ he posted.
As a spokesperson of the game, Newman is contradicting the AFL’s pride in anti-racism, and not for the first time. Socceroos ex-captain Craig Foster recently provided clear reasoning as to the danger of this mindset. ‘Sports that still maintain the veneer of ‘neutrality’ while making political choices out of tune with modern society are losing currency. As has so recently been succinctly stated: silence is violence,’ he said.
If the AFL wants to adhere to its own policies, change needs to happen. To start with, the league could
consider the integrity of its partnerships with Rio Tinto and BHP companies, who continue to mine on Indigenous land.
Adelaide United legend Bruce Djite delivered an eye-opening response regarding racism in sport on the ABC’s Q&A last week also. He said “It doesn’t matter if it’s about racism. I tell you now, if there was an indigenous person on the AFL Commission, or as AFL CEO, during the time where Adam Goodes was getting racially vilified, it would have had a different reaction, the guy might still be actively involved in the sport. (…) Without the people with the context knowledge – you can read all the content, you can be across it all you like, you can read a thousand books – if you haven’t felt it and don’t have that context knowledge, then you don’t get it. It’s impossible.’
No matter how much the AFL claims to condemn racism, it is unlikely real change will happen until the people in power change. Since the AFL reflects so much of the Australian community, this idea indicates that our country has a very long way to go. The AFL is an embarrassing and painful mirroring of our own country’s racist identity, and fear of action. But clearly the footy world could also be a crucial tool for voicing change. So let’s see it happen.
woah this is so true
#facts