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There has been swift condemnation of racist abuse directed at West Coast Eagles forward Liam Ryan on social media following the opening round of the AFL season, with the club saying it is appalled by the "vitriolic" insults.
Key points:
- At least two Instagram users referred to Liam Ryan as a "monkey" on a @7afl post
- WA Premier Mark McGowan says the comments are "obviously disgusting"
- The AFLPA wants changes to stop social media users from remaining anonymous
Ryan was targeted after a post on the official Channel 7 AFL Instagram account asked fans if the forward should be suspended for a clash with Darcy Gardiner during the Eagles' loss to the Lions at the Gabba on Saturday night.
Some commenters used the opportunity to direct slurs at the 22-year-old Indigenous player, calling him a "monkey".
West Coast ruckman Nic Naitanui took a screenshot of the since-deleted comments and posted them to Twitter, asking: "When will it end?".
"These fools need to be held accountable at some stage," Naitanui wrote.
Eagles chief executive Trevor Nisbett said he was shocked and upset by the continued abuse of Indigenous Australians.
"The comments posted by some people on social media are absolutely abhorrent," he said.
"The continued use of the term monkey is disgusting and these keyboard cowards must be held to account.
"To have this occurring so consistently, albeit by a minority of people, is distressing and completely unacceptable.
"Our society expects better, our players expect better and our club expects better. This must stop and we must make a stand.
"We have to be respectful of all cultures and accept people for who they are. No one should be subjected to this hateful and vitriolic garbage."
Racist slurs 'disgusting': WA Premier
It is the latest case of an Indigenous AFL player being targeted on social media, with Adelaide Crows star Eddie Betts having repeatedly endured racist abuse.
WA Premier Mark McGowan echoed the calls for the abuse to stop.
"It was obviously disgusting," he said.
"People should have learnt you cannot do this, and you shouldn't do it."
AFL Players Association chief Paul Marsh called for changes to remove the anonymity of people posting on social media.
"More hatred directed at one of our players. This ongoing issue needs to be addressed at the source," he wrote on Twitter.
"Change is needed so that these gutless people can't hide behind anonymity."
Abuse follows Eddie Betts, Tayla Harris cases
The latest furore comes after Betts was targeted during pre-season this year, with a comment left next to a picture of the Crows forward arriving to play in the AFLX competition.
He was previously targeted last year, when a user wrote "why with a monkey" under a selfie of the footballer and a young fan.
AFLW star Tayla Harris was also the subject of sexist abuse less than a week ago, with comments posted on a picture of her kicking a football.
The comments, and the handling of the post by Channel 7, were reported around the world.
Social media companies urged to do more
Mr McGowan called on the operators of social media platforms to do more to prevent the spread of derogatory comments.
"It's going on too much. Anonymous keyboard warriors are out there demeaning and attacking, using vile and racist and sexist commentary about other people," he said.
"Social media operators need to have greater responsibility, they need to be made to have greater responsibility in relation to these sort of things because it is not acceptable."
Mr McGowan said people should be forced to use legitimate names on social media.
"Vile, sexist, nasty, sexist, horrible commentary posted by people who think they can get away with has gone on too long. It's time it stopped."
Senior WA Government minister Ben Wyatt said social media users who made offensive comments should not be paid any attention.
"What they're looking for is this sort of recognition or elevation of the comments that they make … [we] need to have a capacity to just ignore them," he said.
Topics: sport, australian-football-league, race-relations, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, social-media, perth-6000, wa
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