Adam Goodes has warned the racism surrounding Australian Rules could get worse before it gets better.
Sydney star Goodes has been the victim of two acts of racial vilification at AFL grounds in Melbourne over the past year.
He was abused by a Collingwood supporter in 2013 and by an Essendon fan earlier this month.
While buoyed by the amount of people speaking out against racism, Goodes sounded a cautionary note when asked if it was a bigger issue than when he entered the AFL 15 years ago.
“I think what we’re going to find unfortunately is that it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” Goodes said on Tuesday.
“Ever since the Essendon game, the amount of phone calls that I’m getting from people in junior football leagues asking for support on ‘How do we deal with this issue at our local football club? This is what happened on the weekend’.
“That to me means that more people are standing up and saying ‘this is unacceptable’, which I think that’s what we want to start to do.
“That’s how we’re going to make change.”
Incoming chief executive officer Gillon McLachlan said the AFL had to remain focused on racism and couldn’t shirk the issue at any point.
“I think Adam is right. we’re going to continue to be tested, and our clubs are going to be tested,” McLachlan said.
“Having no tolerance and grey in this issue I think is what we need to do and we’re committed to that.
“It actually isn’t that hard. It’s just being completely definitive about this issue and making a stand every time it comes up.”
McLachlan said Collingwood president Eddie McGuire made a mistake with his slur of Goodes on radio last year, but had gone through an education process.
Australian of the Year Goodes stressed he would continue to speak out on racism, even though it made some people uncomfortable and angry.
“I definitely think there’s a lot more positive support out there for what I’m trying to do than there is negative,” Goodes said.
“It doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt any less, but I think what I’ve been able to do definitely the last ten years is attach myself to the positiveness of it all.
“If I focus too much on the negative, then it would definitely get too much and you wouldn’t want to keep going with the cause, but I have fantastic support around me.”
His Sydney teammate Lance Franklin, who was racially vilified in Tasmania in 2011, said education was the key to stamping out the problem.
“For me, that day was very upsetting, not only for me, but for my people,” Franklin said.
“I stood up and spoke to the AFL and in doing that they were a massive part of us improving as a football code.”
