Carlton forward Eddie Betts has spoken out against his former captain Taylor Walker’s racist remarks, saying the Adelaide star “has to learn” from the event.
Walker received a six-week suspension this week and gave $20,000 to an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program following an AFL investigation into a racial slur exchanged with a teammate directed at North Adelaide player Robbie Young last month.
Speaking to The Age, Betts, who played 132 games for the Crows and is one of the game’s most decorated Indigenous players, stated that Walker’s actions from now on will define him.
“He should learn from this. He must accept responsibility for his actions. And he needs to work on educating himself to be anti-racist, educating those around him, and speaking out racism when he sees it. Betts stated that doing so is the only option for everyone to move forward with this.
“And when it comes to racism, we are not making progress; rather, we are regressing. The unfortunate part is that I’m accustomed to it. That’s the sad part. We, the Aboriginal people, are used to it. And we keep fighting, but it’s difficult.”
Betts has been open about racial vilification throughout his career, saying on AFL 360 earlier this year that he has been subjected to it in every year of his.
“I need people to understand this is what we go through. This is what Aboriginal people deal with in our everyday lives. It doesn’t matter if you play AFL footy in the spotlight, or if you’re in the community,” he told The Age. “Racism does exist in Australia, and over the past 10 years of playing AFL footy, I have been racially abused every single year. It happened last week. It happened the week before that and the week before that.”
