This article first appeared in The Australian, 16 June 2010

Rugby league must tackle racist attitudes

Wesley Aird

During the past week the NSW State of Origin team has imploded with allegations of racism. Tonight, most fans on both sides of the state border will probably worry only about the outcome of game and most likely they don't care who said what to whom so long as their team wins.

But long after the final whistle, the administrators of the game will be well and truly fighting a much bigger fight that must go on for years. This fight is about the integrity of the game and whether the top players deserve our support.

To a sports-loving fan the most important thing may well be whether the Blues avoid a loss in tonight's Origin clash. The Blues' fans will be furious the chances of a critical NSW win are disappearing before their eyes.

The stakes are high in modern sport and professional players will strive to take any advantage over their opponents.

Sometimes it becomes personal and crosses that line where, instead of playing the ball, opponents play the man, so to speak. There is no such thing as good timing for racism.

The Blues' camp is in strife not because of player form, injury or contracts but because of ill-considered words.

The big issue here---the one with which the code's administrators must grapple---is what happens to the sport. The real mark of a sport is not the attendance figures but how it handles the increasingly difficult crossover into our everyday lives.

In the past week it was rugby league's turn to remind us through the Andrew Johns-Timana Tahu affair that racism is alive and well. The occasional fan of the sport will of course remember league players for less than exemplary attitudes towards young female fans, which brought into question the game's attitudes towards society.

League is a business. To survive, clubs must have a steady supply of players and supporters. When the top tier players behave poorly the club (or in this case the code) suffers and the support base fractures. The administrators of professional league must set out to educate young players (and some older coaches) on the basic rules of respect; the future of the code demands no less.

The Blues have reminded us that racism is still alive and well in Australia. It is probably just as alive in rugby league as it is in any area of competitive human endeavour, whether on a sports field, in a boardroom or a schoolroom.

We want our sporting heroes to be all-round great people; we want to project on to our young sportsmen and women our own aspirations and to live our lives vicariously through their wins and losses. In return for our adulation, we need them to make good decisions on and off the field.

There is nothing new about hero worship; however, in 2010, with the media spotlight always on, everything a coach or player does is fodder for the media and fans. A player can lose form and fade out through time with hardly a mention but, off the field, sports careers are regularly wrecked in a flash of ill-considered behaviour.

For whatever reason, indigenous Australians have tended to play one code of football or another over any other sport; maybe it's because these sports require the least capital outlay.

Regardless of the beginnings, being part of a footy team has given countless indigenous players and supporters the opportunity to fit into society by being a part of a sports community.

At a national level, rugby league and Australian football have produced many great indigenous players who have gone on to become national or even international heroes. Sport has brought together countless thousands of black and white Australians. But it hasn't all been easy going.

Rugby union has attracted less attention through the years, probably because it has had considerably fewer indigenous players at the top level. However, as a code, union has had its fair share of racial controversy.

The AFL had to address racism in the 1990s. Perhaps one of the more high-profile catalysts was Nicky Winmar lifting up his St Kilda jumper to show Collingwood supporters the colour of his skin after suffering racist taunts from the crowd. To its credit the AFL put in place an education campaign and serious fines for racial vilification, and it continues the fight.

Inter-code rivalry can be just as fierce as the clashes on the playing field. As unpalatable as it may seem, it is time for the ARL and NRL to learn a thing or two from the AFL and to raise the standards of acceptable behaviour on the field and off the field, for players and supporters.

Fail to do this and the fans and their money will go elsewhere.

Wesley Aird is a member of the Gold Coast Native Title Group and a board member of the Bennelong Society.