John Warhurst | Why is racism in sport still a 'sports' issue?

This is a good example of a frailty in Australian democracy. Our society has the remarkable ability to discuss public issues quite separately as if they were unrelated.

Last weekend the sports pages reported that during the AFL Gather Round in Adelaide, Collingwood and St Kilda players jointly recognised the 30th anniversary of the famous occasion when St Kilda's Indigenous star, Nicky Winmar, publicly protested the racism directed towards him during a game at Collingwood's then home ground at Victoria Park in Melbourne.

That occasion when Winmar, a Western Australian, lifted his football jumper in a defiant gesture to the Collingwood fans, proudly pointing to his black skin, has been memorialised in a famous photograph and since 2019 in a statue at Optus Oval in Perth. Winmar declared: "I'm proud to be black."

One week later, Collingwood's then president, Allan McAllister, magnified the issue even further when he effectively blamed the Indigenous players for the abuse directed at them: "As long as they conduct themselves like white people ... everyone will admire and respect [them]... as long as they conduct themselves like human beings, they will be alright".

Last week Collingwood made a formal apology.

"The Collingwood Football Club understands that racism is harmful and has no place in our game and apologises to Nicky Winmar and to Gilbert McAdam for the hurt they experienced playing football.

"It takes courage to stand against racism and when First Nations people do so, it is our opportunity - all Australians - to listen and change for the better.

"Collingwood also apologises for the appalling comments made by its most senior official in the days following the game.

"To go back and reflect on where we got things wrong is important to us and we will continue to listen and learn as we progress our club.

"We at Collingwood remain on a journey - we believe that real and lasting cultural change takes time, dedication, and persistence."

This illustrates two aspects to sports racism. One is the racism exhibited by supporters and observers. The other is racism within the clubs themselves. Both continue to be problematic despite extensive efforts to eradicate racism within sport.

Racism within AFL clubs is under the microscope during the current enquiry into allegations by players and their families of historic systematic racism within the Hawthorn Football Club. The allegations have embroiled two current senior coaches at other clubs, Alastair Clarkson at North Melbourne and Chris Fagan at Brisbane, who were at Hawthorn at the time. Other clubs have had their recent problems with racism too, including the Adelaide Football Club.

Racism by supporters and observers at games and online continues. It recently led the young Indigenous Western Bulldogs star, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan to emulate Winmar's famous gesture of defiance after he too had been racially abused. Five young Indigenous stars, from various top level AFL clubs, have suffered similar racist abuse recently. There have also been two dozen reports this year alone at the men's and women's state and talent levels.

Clearly neither the clubs nor sporting society at large have eradicated the scourge of racism. This can't be forgotten as we embark on the major national campaigns about the proposed Indigenous Voice. Most Australians are not racist, but the referendum is being conducted in the context of ongoing racism in some sections of the community.

Sporting players and leaders will undoubtedly participate in the campaigns, and many will back the Voice. They should feel free to do so on both sides of the debate. Most of them will be on the "Yes" side, given known Indigenous attitudes to the Voice, but some may not be. Seven major sporting codes, including the AFL, have already discussed launching a combined statement of support. As role models, the players possess a unique connection with millions of followers, including young people, and could be influential, especially as the vote will closely follow the football finals.

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Three questions are important.

Will the trolls and other racists in the community be out in force during the campaign? The evidence in sport suggests that some will be.

Will the referendum campaign have an adverse impact on the lives of Indigenous Australians? The evidence suggests that it will, just as the 2017 postal survey campaign did for the LGBTQIA+ community, although its eventual success was enormously beneficial in tackling discrimination.

Any suggestion that the Voice proposal is divisive inevitably puts First Nations people in the spotlight. Debates about whether Indigenous Australians deserve special recognition in the constitution do likewise. The recent Essential Poll indicated that some "Yes" and "No" voters have some worries that, in the words of the rather leading survey question, the Voice will give Indigenous Australians "rights and privileges that other Australians don't have".

All this is happening while destructive public violence and alleged dysfunction in Aboriginal communities is being highlighted in Alice Springs.

Will such community racism, as demonstrated among small sections of the otherwise hugely supportive sporting fraternity have any impact on referendum voters' final decisions? Hopefully it will not have any major impact. Close to 60 per cent of the community already express "hard" views anyway. Slightly more of these "hardened" voters support the "Yes" case.

More importantly, let's hope voters take no notice of racist extremists. Their interventions should not just be dismissed but seen as a golden opportunity to respond with a spirited rebuttal.