Carlton and Adelaide great Eddie Betts has shared vision of a racist appearing to drive past his house and yell racial slurs at his children and their friends.
The video shows the person repeatedly yelling the N-word from their car while the children played basketball.
Betts took to Instagram to decry the disgusting incident, hoping the person could be identified.
“Aboriginal kids deserve to be able to play safely, free from racism and abuse over the fence,” Betts wrote.
“We are not even safe in our own homes. If you know who this is please let me them know that I’m open to having a chat about how much this hurts our kids.”
Betts, who played 350 games and kicked 640 goals in a decorated career for the Blues and Crows, has been open about facing racism and discrimination throughout his life, detailing several incidents in his autobiography The Boy from Boomerang Crescent.
In the wake of past Hawthorn Indigenous players making shock allegations of racism against then-coach Alastair Clarkson and current Brisbane coach Chris Fagan in September 2022, Betts recounted a moment he was told to get out of a pool while playing with his children.
“I found out that two old white elderly people told the lifeguard to tell me to get out of the pool because I was making their grandchild uncomfortable,” Betts said on Fox Footy.
“And that just made me feel like I don’t belong here in Australia, because these issues keep occurring.”
Betts’ Instagram post has received a flood of support from around the football world, with the Western Bulldogs’ account posting a message in solidarity and fellow players including Melbourne star Christian Petracca and West Coast forward Liam Ryan also responding.
Eddie Betts (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
‘Won’t be pushing the panic button’: Fagan calls on players to lift as Lions’ slump continues
It’s not panic stations yet for Chris Fagan but the Brisbane Lions coach admits he has key players out of form and no obvious answer to their struggles after a third-straight loss to begin the AFL season.
The Lions were beaten by 20 points in Thursday’s grand final replay with Collingwood, their second defeat in as many games as their traditional Gabba fortress this season.
Lachie Neale had a game-high 35 disposals despite tweaking his ankle and also copping a stiff open palm to the chest from Scott Pendlebury, who could face scrutiny in a 387-game career that’s so far without suspension.
Fagan lamented dropped marks, too many handballs and an inability to convert an inside-50 count 56-43 in their favour as the coach was again left to stare at a statistics sheet with plenty of positives.
“That’s consistency, isn’t it? There’s a lot of green on this stat sheet and that’s been the frustrating thing about it,” he said.
“Normally when we win inside-50s we win, but for some reason or other we’re not.
“The answer’s not obvious.”
Brisbane haven’t lost three consecutive regular-season games since 2018, when they started their campaign with eight straight losses.
Unbeaten at the Gabba last season, Fagan admitted they were in a “little slump” and it was his job to help his players rediscover their magic.
“Some of our players are not at their best at the moment; I can’t explain to you why,” he said.
“That’s sport for you.
“It’s a good challenge. You talk to them about what they’re good at, reinforce that.
“Form comes and goes. So it’s just positivity, but honesty as well. They’ve been good players, we won’t be pushing the panic button.
“I’ve trusted them a long time and they’ve delivered, so I’m not going to jump off them just because we’ve lost three in a row.”
The Lions play North Melbourne in Adelaide next week before facing Melbourne at the MCG, Geelong at the Gabba and GWS in Canberra.
“There’s 20 (rounds) to go, isn’t there? A long way to go,” he said.
“We’ve got a bit of work to do, to find ourselves.
“You’re making it sound like we’re 0-13. It’s not a great start, but let’s not catastrophise it either, would be the way I’d look at it.
“I don’t want to buy into that just yet.”
(AAP)