By Liz Minchin
August 1, 2005
The Age

A junior football coach has been suspended for life from a northern Melbourne league after an incident in which spectators screamed racist abuse at Sudanese boys.

Roxburgh Park Football Club was also fined over the incident, but plans to appeal against the fine and the ban on their under-12s coach this week.

Club president Ewan Wright agreed the coach could have been among a group of spectators yelling at opposition players, but said the lifetime ban was heavy-handed because "no racial comments were proven in relation to the suspension".

The Essendon District Football League investigated two incidents of racist slurs against Roxburgh Park in under-14s and under-16s matches last Sunday.

At the under-16s game at Kensington's Holland Park, the under-12s coach was reportedly among a small group of adult spectators screaming at Maribyrnong Park players.

Two Sudanese boys appeared targets for much of the abuse, with witnesses reporting taunts such as "Get back to where you came from, you little f------ black bastards", which continued even as the team posed for photos after the game.

One bystander was so concerned about the crowd that a call was made to Flemington police. A police van drove past soon afterwards.

In an under-14s match at Maribyrnong Park on the same day, a Sri Lankan boy was called a "f------ black c---" by at least one Roxburgh Park player, who was angry at being punched in the face.

The league organised a conciliation hearing between the two boys last week in which they both conceded they had done the wrong thing.

Maribyrnong Park under-14s coach Aaron Janetzki said that while his player had been justifiably angry about the repeated racist comments thrown at him in the match, the boy had been impressed by his opponent's letter of apology, which he thought "took guts" to write. Neither boy was punished by the league, but the Roxburgh Park president said they had suspended their player for three weeks, making him ineligible to play in the junior finals, because "we believe we've got to set an example for other people".

"One of our players was on the receiving end (of racism) two years ago, so we are extremely conscious of how serious it is," Mr Wright said.

But he said the club planned to appeal against both the length of suspension for its under-12s coach, and the substantial fine — which he would not disclose, other than to say that it was "a lot" — imposed by the league.

Mr Wright said he felt Roxburgh Park had done "everything in its power to promote the right atmosphere", including making it compulsory for all players, parents and officials to watch the Football Victoria video Bouncing Racism Out of Sport at the start of this season.

Essendon District Football League general manager Stan Pettett stressed that complaints of racism in the league were not common, although he confirmed there had been "a couple of other matters over the last couple of years".

Link to story: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/under12-coach-suspended-over-racial-abuse/2005/07/31/1122748527150.html