Liam Ryan subjected to vile racist abuse (again) - West Coast and AFL respond.

[FreeTK]

‘Epitome of a low life coward’: Liam Ryan and West Coast Eagles left sickened by racist post

The West Coast Eagles have fiercely condemned an “abhorrent” social media attack on the family of star forward Liam Ryan, who’s again been subjected to racism from an online user.
Ryan, 23, launched a live Instagram stream on his account on Thursday night — a form of posting that allows users to comment live.
During the stream, Ryan was seen with his daughter, before one follower posted a violent and vile comment. Out of respect for Ryan and his family, foxfooty.com.au has opted not to publish the comment.
A screenshot of the sentence with a circle around it was then circulated, with Ryan highlighting it himself to call out the user.
“No words can describe how disgraceful this comment is … epitome of a low life coward,” Ryan wrote.

Several teammates have since rallied around Ryan on their personal Instagram stories.The Eagles then released a statement on Friday.“The West Coast Eagles are sickened by yet another abhorrent racial social media attack on Liam Ryan and his family,” a statement read.“It is unfathomable that someone believes it is acceptable to post such a disgusting message.“The club has reported the post and will do everything to ensure this person is held to account.”



That statement has been re-tweeted by nearly every AFL club in yet another strong show of support for Ryan, who was also racially abused earlier this year on Instagram by a then-Richmond member.

The AFL issued a response on Friday, condemning the social media attack."The AFL is disgusted by the continued abuse of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in our game. Our society expects better and our players deserve better. This needs to end," the AFL statement read."The AFL is and will continue to work with social media platforms to protect our players and to stamp out all forms of vilification."AFL general manager of inclusion and social policy Tanya Hosch wrote on Twitter: “I send my apologies to Liam Ryan, the West Coast Eagles and the AFL community for the racist abuse Liam & his family has been subjected to today. Racism is no joke and is never acceptable. This is a vulgar act.”

AFL Players’ Association boss Paul Marsh labelled the comment as “disgraceful”.
“We encourage everyone to be respectful at all times, and for those who need it to be educated about acceptable behaviour. There is no place for this abuse in our game or in society,” Marsh said.
The Eagles in May launched an anti-racism campaign featuring club indigenous liaison officer and inaugural player Phil Narkle, as well as development coach Chance Bateman, asking #whenwillitend

 

[Baird]

Jesus wept

 

[Vintage]

FFS. Hope they are able to identify the person.

 

[Danger2Jenkins]

Not good but s**t happens. Best for everybody to ignore it and not make it news rather than encourage it by feeding trolls.

You can't control literally everyone in the country who grew up on a farm or in regional QLD. It's completely unrealistic

 

[FreeTK]

Not good but s**t happens. Best for everybody to ignore it and not make it news rather than encourage it by feeding trolls.

You can't control literally everyone in the country who grew up on a farm or in regional QLD. It's completely unrealistic

This is part of the problem!

No person deserves to be vilified based on race and have their family and child threatened because of race.

Not talking about it means aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people are forced to suffer racism and complaints about their treatment falls on deaf ears.

It isn’t an issue with a particular region in our currently, placing the blame on regional Queensland let’s the rest of the country off the hook.

 

[Upgrayedd]

wonder what was going through the dudes head while typing that

Probably nothing much at all. What a shitcampaigner

 

[FreeTK]

wonder what was going through the dudes head while typing that

Probably nothing much at all. What a shitcampaigner

I think you might be right about that. That goes to show how ingrained racism is in our culture.

We do it automatically, without even trying to be campaigners

 

[Hawk_francais]

Not good but s**t happens. Best for everybody to ignore it and not make it news rather than encourage it by feeding trolls.

You can't control literally everyone in the country who grew up on a farm or in regional QLD. It's completely unrealistic

Totally agree with the other poster who quoted you.

It depends what you think zero tolerance towards racism means, if you think it means not tolerating racism and calling out every instance of it in public, then it's probably a fair interpretation. The way we skip over racist comments and inferences is part of the problem. It doesn't affect us, but it affects those who it targets and those who have been targeted in the past.

Anyone who's going to come here and bemoan the fact that we're talking about racism again, well I think it's time to redirect a larger portion of our outrage towards people who make these comments, not those who find them unacceptable. Nobody is seeking to control anybody, but rather this is simply people making racist comments in public forums meeting with repercussions. This is a drama that will unfold repeatedly before it becomes rare enough that indigenous people and others don't feel marginalised.

 

[sr36]

This is part of the problem!

No person deserves to be vilified based on race and have their family and child threatened because of race.

Not talking about it means aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people are forced to suffer racism and complaints about their treatment falls on deaf ears.

It isn’t an issue with a particular region in our currently, placing the blame on regional Queensland let’s the rest of the country off the hook.

Let's get together a lynch mob or perhaps a posse to vilify those who vilify.

 

[FreeTK]

Let's get together a lynch mob or perhaps a posse to vilify those who vilify.

No one is asking or saying for any of those things.

Having a community conversation that reinforces standards and expectations, and calling out when those standards are expectations are breached is the very bare minimum we should and could do. People are simply standing up for values of respect and inclusion, specifically as it relates to Australia's First Nations peoples.

It's particularly disheartening that the AFL has such a big problem with race given the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to the sport we all love.

 

[sr36]

No one is asking or saying for any of those things.

Having a community conversation that reinforces standards and expectations, and calling out when those standards are expectations are breached is the very bare minimum we should and could do. People are simply standing up for values of respect and inclusion, specifically as it relates to Australia's First Nations peoples.

It's particularly disheartening that the AFL has such a big problem with race given the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to the sport we all love.

I agree with the standards in this case. I only made the comment because i think vilification is an enormous issue and there's become a social tendency in Australia to vilify everything you disagree with. The vilification is still there. It's just that the target has changed and thise who are currently espousing to be anti vilification are often vilifying the hardest.

 

[Toasty389]

The kid who wrote the comment’s name is Jesvin he’s a year 9 at a school in Melbourne and was expelled for this whole incident

 

[FreeTK]

I agree with the standards in this case. I only made the comment because i think vilification is an enormous issue and there's become a social tendency in Australia to vilify everything you disagree with. The vilification is still there. It's just that the target has changed and thise who are currently espousing to be anti vilification are often vilifying the hardest.

No one in this thread has had made any remark about vigilanteism at all, so your remark and subsequent post are irrelevant to the conversation and unnecessary.

 

[FreeTK]

The kid who wrote the comment’s name is Jesvin he’s a year 9 at a school in Melbourne and was expelled for this whole incident

What is your source? I haven't seen that anywhere (other than the name). I find it slightly hard to believe that any action taken by the school could have moved this quickly.

 

[sr36]

No one in this thread has had made any remark about vigilanteism at all, so your remark and subsequent post are irrelevant to the conversation and unnecessary.

He's just been named. The vigilante groups move quickly on both sides of politics.

 

[Toasty389]

What is your source? I haven't seen that anywhere (other than the name). I find it slightly hard to believe that any action taken by the school could have moved this quickly.

I am a former student of the school and was told by someone who currently attends the school

 

[FreeTK]

He's just been named. The vigilante groups move quickly on both sides of politics.

That was literally the name of the instagram account that he used to post the comment.

Also- why should someone be free to post vile racist diatribes and not have their identity known? If you say it, you've got to own it.

 

[sr36]

That was literally the name of the instagram account that he used to post the comment.

Also- why should someone be free to post vile racist diatribes and not have their identity known? If you say it, you've got to own it.

I agree with the political view point that youre coming from. I just hate that the left has become as righteous/ right wing as the right.

 

[FreeTK]

I agree with the political view point that youre coming from. I just hate that the left has become as righteous/ right wing as the right.

This is reactionary and has no place in this in this thread. None of the things you say that happen are currently happening in this thread. Your concerns are misplaced.

 

[sr36]

This is reactionary and has no place in this in this thread. None of the things you say that happen are currently happening in this thread. Your concerns are misplaced.

Yes I am being reactionary, but why do you think someone is being named? Is that not equally as reactionary, with far worse potential outcomes than what i'm writing?

 

[FreeTK]

Yes I am being reactionary, but why do you think someone is being named? Is that not equally as reactionary, with far worse potential outcomes than what i'm writing?

No it isn't. That is simply natural justice. He had his name in his instagram username.

People should be held accountable for things they say and their actions (including posting on social medial).

If I did something similar, I would lose my job.

You seem to have a lot of sympathy for people who make racist remarks about a child, and yet I haven't heard anything from you sympathising with Liam Ryan for having vile remarks made about hoping his child dies.

You seem to have your priorities wrong, and I simply don't get it.

 

[Hawk_francais]

I agree with the standards in this case. I only made the comment because i think vilification is an enormous issue and there's become a social tendency in Australia to vilify everything you disagree with. The vilification is still there. It's just that the target has changed and thise who are currently espousing to be anti vilification are often vilifying the hardest.

You think that there are more instances of people being vilified for vilification than there are vilifiers in the first place?

That sounds like a really amazing story, I'm so glad you shared it with us.

 

[sr36]

No it isn't. That is simply natural justice. He had his name in his instagram username.

People should be held accountable for things they say and their actions (including posting on social medial).

If I did something similar, I would lose my job.

You seem to have a lot of sympathy for people who make racist remarks about a child, and yet I haven't heard anything from you sympathising with Liam Ryan for having vile remarks made about hoping his child dies.

You seem to have your priorities wrong, and I simply don't get it.

I actually don't know what the remarks were, but I do have sympathy for anyone being vilified - be it Liam Ryan or some dumb kid who posted something obnoxious.

"Natural justice"- there's a phrase I've heard a lot of times before in discussions of racial issues. It's never a phrase i've taken a shining to.

I love your cause. I'm just concerned that ugliness in one direction could turn into ugliness in the other direction

 

[sr36]

You think that there are more instances of people being vilified for vilification than there are vilifiers in the first place?

That sounds like a really amazing story, I'm so glad you shared it with us.

I just don't like vilification, whether it's the origin or whether it's retaliatory. And there seems to me to be a lot of vilifying of those who are accused of vilifying.

 

[Hawk_francais]

I just don't like vilification, whether it's the origin or whether it's retaliatory. And there seems to me to be a lot of vilifying of those who are accused of vilifying.

And here I am, vilifying you for your objections to vilification. The humanity.