Brisbane Lions player Callum Ah Chee has revealed he received a racist message online in the wake of the controversial Patrick Cripps tribunal case.
Key points:
- Callum Ah Chee suffered a concussion in an on-field incident with Patrick Cripps that went to the tribunal
- After Cripps was cleared, Ah Chee was sent a racist message on social media
- The Lions have been proactive in trying to stop racist messages being sent to the club’s players
Ah Chee was left concussed after a collision with Carlton’s Cripps last weekend, with the Blues star initially suspended for two weeks, before the club appealed and had the ban overturned.
Ah Chee will be forced to miss tonight’s crucial clash with St Kilda as a result of the concussion.
The 24-year-old, who has been at the Lions since 2020, revealed he had been sent a racist message in the wake of the case, using his Instagram account to call out the abuse.
“How can this still keep happening,” Ah Chee wrote.
“Why can’t my brothers and I just play the game we love without having to worry about shit like this … if my son grows up playing the game — I hope he doesn’t have to deal with this hate.
“It hurts and I’m sick to death of seeing it.”
Lions midfielder Mitch Robinson also took to social media to hit out at the comment.
“This is as weak as it ever gets,” he wrote on his Twitter account.
“F***ing sick of having to see our Indigenous and multicultural players subject to racism over and over again.
“If you see it, even if you might know these uneducated trolls on social media, keep calling it out and report them.”
In August last year, the Lions detailed “shocking” and “saddening” examples of online racial abuse targeting players, as the club pushed for stronger regulation to stamp out the vilification.
The Lions strongly condemned the comment and said it had been reported to the AFL’s integrity unit.
“It’s disgusting behaviour and we must, and we will, continue to call it out,” the Lions’ statement read.
“There is no place for racism in sport, or in society, full stop.
“The Brisbane Lions celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and the incredible contribution Indigenous players have made to our club and to our great game.
“It’s disappointing to have to do so, but in moments like this we take the approach as a footy club to urge people to educate themselves about the harmful impacts of racially motivated comments and online abuse.
“At the Lions we are a family and when one hurts, we all hurt.”
AFL accepts Cripps decision
Meanwhile, the AFL has not ruled out making changes to the tribunal process after Carlton were able to overturn the two-game ban for Cripps on appeal.
In one of the AFL’s most controversial tribunal cases, Cripps was freed to play in the Blues’ crucial last two home-and-away matches after a marathon appeal hearing on Thursday night.
The AFL has accepted the call but will “closely review” the reasons why the appeals board overturned the match review officer’s rough conduct charge for Cripps.
The AFL’s executive football manager Andrew Dillon said the league would not “shy away” from making changes to tribunal procedures, if necessary.
“The health and safety of our players is of paramount importance to the AFL and we will continue to evaluate and, where necessary, act to prioritise that objective in relation to the occurrence of concussion and other injuries in the playing of our game,” Dillon said.
The incident with Ah Chee was graded as careless, high impact and high contact, with the tribunal panel on Tuesday upholding that verdict.
But Carlton rolled the dice by going to the appeals board and won their case after four-and-a-half hours on Thursday night.
“[It] probably played out as we’d hoped,” Blues coach Michael Voss said on Friday.
“[That was] our read on it at the start, we maintained that and thankfully the appeals board saw it that way as well.”
Voss hopes the decision will give “more clarity” about what players can do on the field.
“The interpretation of that we felt like it was going to come out that way, we were obviously left a little bit disappointed with the outcome of the tribunal and we followed through the appeals process,” Voss said.
“I think the game still lends to evenly contesting the ball and that’s not changed.
“The rules state it that way and that’s the way we read the rules and interpret the situation and we followed through on that.
“Maybe that gives greater clarity for everyone but the fact is we felt like we had a really great case.”
ABC/AAP
Source: AFL NEWS ABC
