Only 17 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders or people of colour feel satisfied with the way racism has been dealt with during their time as AFL players, a new survey has found.
The AFL Players’ Association this week released its Insights and Impact report, which surveyed players earlier in the year.
Of the 92 players that identified as Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander or a person of colour, a third reported having experienced racism while listed as an AFL player.
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Just 17 per cent, the report states, “felt these were dealt with entirely to their satisfaction”.
Of those experiences, 15 surveyed said they’d experienced racism within the past 12 months, 13 surveyed within the past 2-5 years and eight longer than five years ago.
Of the 29 players who reported experiencing racism while an AFL player, 62 per cent responded “No, not at all” to the question ‘Were the incident(s) dealt with appropriately or to your satisfaction’, while 21 per cent responded “somewhat or partially”.
The most common instances of racism, players reporter, were on social media, but there were also reported “incidences of vilification from people within the industry”.
Concerning how players would recognise and react to racism, 81 per cent were “entirely confident” of their ability to do so, while 17 per cent were “somewhat confident”.
Additionally, 57 per cent of those surveyed said they would “welcome more support, tools and/or education to equip them in confidently responding to incidents of racism when they occur”.
The AFL is once again grappling with racism, with allegations of mistreatment of First Nations players at Hawthorn during parts of Alastair Clarkson’s tenure as Hawthorn senior coach.
A Hawthorn-commissioned review found the majority of allegations centring between 2010 and 2015.
