What Does the Eddie Betts Attack Mean for the Future of Racism in the AFL?

The Port Adelaide fan who was filmed throwing a banana at Crows player Eddie Betts in a racially-motivated attack on Saturday has been "indefinitely" banned from Port Adelaide games. It's feels like a victory, maybe, but a small one.

According to sports researcher Sean Gorman though, the Eddie Betts attack proves how much further Australia has to go if we want to dismantle racial prejudice in the AFL. At the same time though, is also shows how far we've come.

Earlier this year, Gorman co-authored a landmark study into how prejudice and discrimination affects AFL players. He says it's important to consider the history behind banana-throwing incidents like this one, as well as other racially-motivated attacks taking place within Australian sporting contexts.

Unfortunately, the attack is just one in a long string of racial incidents that have haunted the AFL: the booing of Adam Goodes was just the most prominent example of late.

White supporters vilifying black players as "monkeys" and throwing bananas at them is a trope that dates back to the early years of racially diverse players entering the English Premier League.

In the 1960s, Bermudan West Ham United player Clyde Best was called a money by spectators multiple times during games, while they pelted him with bananas. In the 1980s, football players like Paul Canoville, Garth Crooks, Cyrille Regis, and John Barnes were vilified by supporters of their own teams.

This culture infiltrated Australia too. "Thinking back to the 80s and the mid-90s, you could say anything you wanted to about any player on the ground," Gorman notes. "There would be en masse abuse of players from the time the ball was bounced 'til the end of the game."

Racial abuse is by no means confined to AFL, either—in fact, the Eddie Betts incident echoes abuse received by cricket player Andrew Symonds in the mid-2000s.

Gorman says that in the past few years racial abuse within the teams themselves—what he deems player-to-player vilification—has seen a lot of progress. The next barrier to break through? Getting supporters on side as well.

The social media outcry, which typically follows racial incidents in the AFL, plays a key role in this. "Before, we'd turn a blind eye. These days we capture and share [the incidents] on our phones, can put things into more context," Gorman says.

"There have been racial situations, they still occur. [The Betts banana-throwing] isn't an anomaly. But it's the way we're now dealing with it," he continues. "The education process has come around to these sorts of things."

The best case scenario, coming out of an incident like this, is that the game improves and avoids regression. Gorman says it's crucial to consider Australia's current political context, especially the movement within the Liberal party to repeal Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which prohibits speech that is "reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate" on the basis of "race, colour or national or ethnic origin."

"We can't go backwards," he says.

It seems beyond belief that after the awareness Adam Goodes brought to this issue, spectators still think they can racially abuse players from the safety of the sidelines. And as Gorman points out, Saturday's outburst was "especially odd, because I think Port Adelaide actually have more Aboriginal players than most teams."

He's right, the team has six Indigenous players. Overall there are just 73 on AFL lists this year.

Of course, while the AFL might be making process when it comes to racism on the pitch, the impact on the individuals weathering these barbs can't be underestimated. "What's telling is that Betts wasn't at the team warm down the next day," Gorman points out. "They've completely cotton balled him."

Perhaps the saddest thing about Saturday night's showdown match is that is should have been a celebration of Betts' career. "It was his 250th game for the league, after all," Gorman says. "This incident shouldn't take away from what was a big achievement."

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