Comments intended as banter between two high-school friends have escalated into a racial abuse investigation following a local football match in Geelong.
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Indigenous footballer Mikali Harrison, who plays for the Belmont Lions in the Geelong District Football League, was subjected to racial taunting by female supporter of the Anakie Kangaroos during a game on Saturday afternoon.
The remark will be formally dealt with by Anakie at its committee meeting on Tuesday night, with the club intending to act in accordance with the AFL's racial and religious vilifaction code.
The Lions are comfortable with the steps taken by the Kangaroos after Belmont lodged a three-quarter time complaint after some of its supporters overheard the comments.
"It was handled by our side, they notified the officials of Anakie. They moved very, very quickly and they pinpointed the offenders," Belmont president Mal Smith said on Monday morning.
"I've had the president of Anakie on the phone this morning apologising.
"It was handled very well by Anakie. They jumped on the front foot straight away."
Smith indicated that a letter was on its way to Harrison apologising for the remarks. He suggested that whereas similar comments between friends had previously been acceptable, the landscape had changed and racism could no longer be tolerated regardless of whether there was malicious intent.
"We can't do that type of thing any more. It used to be funny."
The Lions are heavily committed to Geelong aboriginal community co-operative Wathaurong, and have more than 20 indigenous players on their list.
Harrison, knows the woman who made the comments well, and has accepted an apology from her. He was said to be in good spirits following the incident.
"He's good as gold," Smith said.
"He knows how to handle this sort of stuff so he handled it pretty well on Saturday."
Anakie president Heath Menhennet said the incident was regrettable but confirmed that all parties were comfortable with the steps undertaken.
"We're all moving on and AFL Barwon are happy in the process that we're taking at the moment," Menhennet said.
"We use (the incident) as an educational tool to move forward and get better at what we do.
"In regards to the girl we'll deal with it at club level and we'll move on from there."
