Enough is Enough

I have been privileged over almost two decades to be heavily involved in senior football in this state. Working within such a high level of football, I have seen first hand the passion and emotions our great game can evoke.

As a senior coach in the Western Australian Football League, some of the comments blurted out by supporters over the fence toward players shocked me, and I was a copper for 20years! Emotions often get extremely elevated and sadly, many supporters find it difficult to control themselves. We have all seen them.

In most instances, such behaviour is often addressed at the ground by peers, other supporters or security officials. Such feral supporters are usually called out in public and this is often enough for them to pull their heads in and respect those around them. If they do not, they are usually evicted to the jeers of those who are there to enjoy the game and the experience.

As the internet has evolved, we have seen the support of AFL players and clubs rise exponentially in a wide range of online environments. Chat forums, club and competition social media pages, as well as sports news accounts have all given us a chance to share the passion we have for our club and its players.

Much like the real world, the online world has also attracted the 'feral supporter'. However, unlike the real world, the online world does not offer the same level of moderation, protection or security we might get at the ground. As such, the vilest of supporter can be allowed to ply their trade without any fear of retribution.

This week we were once again reminded of exactly what many of our AFL players have to deal with day in and day out. Fremantle Dockers players Nathan Wilson and Michael Walters were once again targeted by vile opposition supporters, via posts on Instagram . The post about Nathan in particular included comments which were openly racist and homophobic.

The comments were rightly condemned by Dockers CEO Simon Garlick in a statement made this week - HERE. Freo do a great job in supporting their players and I am glad all AFL clubs are continuing to call out such behaviour against their players and other in the game.

If the person who made the post did in fact have the guts to shout the same words over the fence at a game, after coping a barrage of condemnation from surrounding fans of both teams, they would have been easily identified by security and then marched out of the ground to the cheers of 60thousand supporters.

Sadly, the internet does not offer this same level of protection or redress. The online world provides the speakers of such vile comments a chance to hide away behind anonymity, and the lack of true moderation of social media allows such people to cause harm without hindrance.

Quite often commentators question why high profile sports people do not ignore such comments or simply take themselves off the internet to avoid being targeted. But it is not as simple as that! These comments present a ripple effect which goes well beyond the individual. With Indigenous players in particular, those ripple effects are greatly expanded due to the emotional and cultural impact such extremely racist comments can have on them and their families.

I am lucky enough to know many current and former AFL players. A number of them are Aboriginal and people I consider close friends. The impact I see such comments have on them, is unmistakable. Quite often attacks are relentless and to hear my mates make statements such as, "You just get used to it" or "It's expected!", is often heartbreaking.

Such heartbreak is exacerbated when I see the frustration felt by the wives and partners of such players who are unable able to defend their loved ones. In addition, seeing the fear of not wanting their kids to be exposed to such hatred is a worry which remains constantly at the front of their minds.

But what frustrates me the most as someone who has worked at the coalface of online crime for 15years, is a simple question which I hear almost weekly from members of the AFL Indigenous player community;

"When will it stop?"

I believe as a society we are finally starting to get there! We are calling out such openly racist behaviour in much higher numbers and this is providing tremendous support to those who are at the forefront of such harms. But once again it is the online world which is failing, refusing to get up to speed.

The comments made against Nathan Wilson were done so via an Instagram account. The account used was clearly a fake persona, designed solely for the purpose of racial vilification. Within only moments of the account being created the posts were made, and included terms which are utterly unacceptable in a modern society. Yet, without moderation, without confirmation and without any level of address relating to the terms used, the posts went on the network.

The comments remained active for several days and were not identified or flagged by Instagram in any way. It was not until the comments were reported on by several sources, did Instagram finally remove the offending account.

Time and time again we see Meta executives in media conferences or jumping on their own pages or networks touting how committed Instagram , Facebook and WhatsApp are to stamping out online harms. Yet these cowardly deflective statements are endlessly overridden by continual failures to act.

If they were as committed as they so often selflessly promote, then how did this fake account get created so easily in the first place? How did the comments made get online so quickly and why was it left to the victim and other offended users to act after the event?

This is no longer a victims sole responsibility. This is no longer an issue which should be left for society to sort out. It can not be left for campaigners, advocates, educators, users and their families to address on their own. It is truly time for Big Tech to respond more proactively.

This post should never have seen the light of day on Instagram, but it did. So the question should be to Instagram and all social media networks;

"What are you doing to stop it happening in the first place?"

#EnoughisEnough