AFL football continues to be embarrassed by a small but seemingly very defiant minority who think that paying an admission price entitles them to inflict disgustingly racist attitudes not only on the targets of their abuse, but on the rest of us as well.
The small positive from the latest sad episode involving Adelaide star Eddie Betts is the speed with which it was dealt.
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Power fan throws banana at Betts
A Port Adelaide fan has been caught on video throwing what appears to be a banana at indigenous Crows star Eddie Betts.
Those sitting in the vicinity of the Port Adelaide supporter who lobbed a banana at Betts and called him "a monkey" played their part both by filming the outburst and providing accounts of what happened.
The Power, for their part, are to be commended for moving so quickly, first to investigate the incident, then, when the club could confirm that the banana-throwing was racially motivated, act to suspended that fan's membership indefinitely.
![Saddening: Sharp-shooting Adelaide Crows forward Eddie Betts was subjected to an act of racial vilification.](/web/20160823133725im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/s/a/i/t/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqxsc4.png/1471817936378.jpg)
Port's initiative in offering the female fan a chance to take part in the club's Aboriginal cultural awareness programs is a smart one too.
Because while it would be easy for the supporter to mouth the right platitudes for convenience sake, hearing directly from her own club's seven Indigenous players just how damaging and hurtful her attitudes are is going to be a lot more confronting, and hopefully, embarrassing. As, you would hope, will be the permanent video record of her behaviour for the world to see.
It's another example of the power of visual evidence, coming only weeks after the Four Corners investigation into the Northern Territory's juvenile justice system sparked such a profound reaction at the highest levels of power, not to mention the community at large.
There's nowhere to hide for racists and their apologists when the evidence is right before their eyes, though, incredibly, several opportunistic media commentators have still had a pretty good crack at it in the latter case.
![A photo posted to Facebook, purportedly showing the woman who threw a banana at footballer Eddie Betts on Saturday night.](/web/20160823133725im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/x/k/w/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqxsc4.png/1471905663064.jpg)
What's most disappointing is that this has happened at all in light of the sad exit from AFL football forced upon one of the champions of the game, Adam Goodes, last year.
People continue to insist that the jeering of Goodes in 2015 had no racist motivation at its core, claims just as many (and count me proudly among that number) insist are disingenuous and, frankly, bollocks.
If you refuse to believe that a significant percentage of our community continue to cling tightly, or even unconsciously, to old-world bigotry, consider some of the tweets I received about the Betts incident.
The more ludicrous refused to accept any link between the nature of the object lobbed at the player and racism. Others seriously argued that Betts had brought it upon himself by baiting the crowd.
What Betts' interaction with the crowd after kicking the sealing goal for Adelaide did do was to rip away the façade of decency that still surrounds too many people in this country, and expose their inner ugliness.
And it's ugliness we all need to work harder to expose if this country, let alone its premier football competition, is to actually be what we'd like to think we are.
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