AFL Victoria today has acted to ban a spectator from entering VFL games unless he undertakes racial vilification awareness education in a move that reaffirms that racial vilification at any football game is totally unacceptable.
AFL Victoria will offer the spectator racial and religious vilification education. The spectator will also be refused entry to any VFL game for the rest of the season and will not be welcome back unless he undertakes the required education process and provides a written apology to Majak Daw.
The AFL Victoria decision comes after discussions with both clubs involved – Port Melbourne and Werribee Tigers, Victoria Police and the North Melbourne Football Club where Majak is a rookie-listed player.
AFL Victoria general manager Grant Williams said that behaviour of this nature was totally unacceptable at any football game.
“The public condemnation of the racial abuse towards Majak shows that as a society, we are not willing to accept this sort of behaviour, whether it is at the football, or in the general public.
“We do not want people who behave in this manner at our games. We have worked hard to ensure that all players from all cultures are welcome in our game and we will do whatever is required to ensure that they are free from any sort of on or off-field vilification,” Williams said.
“In many respects the response at the time and reactions since the weekend’s events suggest that our education programs are having an impact” Williams added.
“While we can remove this spectator from VFL games, the focus needs to be on educating not only the offender, but anyone attending our matches who thinks that it is okay to racially vilify players. It is not, and never will be, acceptable.”
AFL Victoria ensures that all players and officials take part in the AFL’s racial and religious vilification education program at the start of each year.
“We educate our clubs but in the future we need to work out ways to also educate the small minority of spectators who still don’t get the message that racial abuse is not part of our game.”
After speaking to Police and North Melbourne Football Club, AFL Victoria has confirmed that Majak will not be pursuing the matter any further.
AFL Victoria once again commends the Werribee and Port Melbourne Football Clubs for their quick response to the incident on the weekend.
“Once both clubs were made aware of what occurred, they acted swiftly to ensure the offender was identified and approached straight away”.
“This again reflects that conduct of this manner has no place in football. Fortunately, the vast majority of people who attend our game at any level understand this.”
Last Modified on 07/06/2011 08:08