A football coach from an indigenous country has resigned in protest of a “disappointing” incident on the pitch in which a racial insult was directed at an Aboriginal player.
Key points:
- A national football coach in WA has resigned in protest of a racial insult directed at an Indigenous player
- The club involved in the scandal was fined $ 200
- South Bunbury Football Club reluctantly accepts the resignation.
Maxwell Jetta, a cousin of former AFL players Lewis Jetta and Neville Jetta, has resigned as coach of the prestigious South West Football League of Western Australia in a position against racism in the sport.
It came after his club, South Bunbury Football Club, was fined $ 200 for a racist mockery that one of its players directed at Carey Park striker Hayden Yarran on May 14th.
Jetta had coached the South Bunbury women’s team in the top three.
“That decision was really about me as a community person, an Aboriginal person, a family man and also a mentor,” Jetta said.
“I want to step in and say it’s not right.”
Yarran’s calls for more to eliminate racism in the league were echoed.
Jetta says she is open to returning to football if the culture changes. (ABC South West: Dinushi Dias)
“We should do more, not just as football clubs, just as members of the community, but everyone in general everywhere, you know, racism is out there, as you can see.
“I think we can do better as people.”
Jetta said she wanted the player who abused Yarran during the game to show up.
He said it was disappointing that racism was still prevalent in the sport years after people like AFL star Adam Goodes took a national stand against it.
“It’s disappointing … we’re in 2022,” he said.
“Will we do the same thing over and over until everything is swept under the rug?
“I defend what is right, I think we can do better.”
The Jetta family has a long history of campaigning against racism in Australia.
Former West Coast Eagles player Lewis Jetta has publicly supported Adam Goodes in calling traditional Indigenous dances at AFL parties.
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The club reluctantly accepts the resignation
In a statement, South Bunbury Football Club said it respected Jetta’s decision to resign, but did not acknowledge the reason for her resignation.
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“South Bunbury Football Club has reluctantly accepted Max Jetta’s resignation as coach of our women’s football team for personal reasons,” a spokesman said.
“On the field, Max has had remarkable success as a triple prime minister, has been a fantastic leader off the field and has become a great friend and mentor to many.”
In a previous statement, the club apologized for the incident and pledged to promote education and cultural awareness to all its players, members and fans.
Hayden Yarran, the Noongar player who reported the incident to him, said he had dealt with racism all his life and more than once during his time playing football.
“Growing up, I dealt with a lot of racism,” he said.
“He was pretty regular as a kid and during adolescence, not much during my adulthood; there are only two times I’ve had to deal with it and they were both on the football field.”
Yarran had called for sanctions on the ground for racial insults.
Additional report by Zoe Keenan and Dominique Bayens
Posted 2 hours 2 hours agoWednesday, June 1, 2022 at 5:12 AM, last updated 10 minutes ago 10 minutes agoWednesday, June 1, 2022 at 7:11 AM