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Sick To His Guts Of The Abuse, Eddie Betts Says Racism Is 'Wrecking Footy'

'Enough is enough.'
This was Betts in 2016. We like this photo because it reminds us of Nicky Winmar's famous gesture.
Adam Trafford/AFL Media via Getty Images
This was Betts in 2016. We like this photo because it reminds us of Nicky Winmar's famous gesture.

Eddie Betts has maintained a dignified silence this week after yet more sickening abuse from fans at last weekend's showdown between his Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide.

While the AFL issued its standard condemnations and at least one fan has had his membership rescinded, the man at the centre of it all had not been heard from, until he spoke to Adelaide radio station 5AA on Thursday morning.

"Stuff like this wrecks it," Betts said. "We want to make footy an enjoyable place to go and support your team, win or lose. There is racial abuse and it's not kid-friendly. It's just not a great place to be.

"Enough is enough. It's racism and we want to stomp it out of the game. It affects me but it affects people around me more."

He's had enough, and you can't blame him.
Getty Images
He's had enough, and you can't blame him.

Led by AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan, the football community has expressed overwhelming support for Betts this week.

Despite this, Betts said his wife Anna had been reduced to tears by the week's events.

"Our kids are Indigenous and they will have to grow up with this stuff as well," he said.

Betts has been subjected to racist taunts numerous times across his ongoing 13-year AFL career, which currently spans 256 games.

In 2016 after a "fan" threw a banana at him, he memorably said "No one is born racist. It is ingrained in them somewhere down the track. It all comes down to that, to be educated".

The education process is clearly not complete yet -- something we sadly all learned a couple of years ago when the AFL urged people to stop booing Adam Goodes, and when Sydney Swans officials said the booing was an expression of racism, yet people kept booing ever louder.

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