Congratulations to the AFL for publishing Mathew Stokes' open letter on the AFL website on a matter that is not directly football related.
Dear Prime Minister: Stokes' open letter to Tony Abbott - AFL.com.au
Firstly, it is pleasing to see a popular and well respected indigenous player from another club take some of the heat off of our Adam Goodes, who has copped the bulk of the racist comments from some parts of the football community. Most players don't want to go public about such things. But if a few more high profile indigenous players could step up it might go a long way to improving awareness of the issues facing our indigenous communities.
It's been a matter high on the public agenda of the AFL, and they did take some criticism, particularly from Mark Robinson, for passing over Michael Long for the AFL Commission. My feeling at the time was that it was probably more to do with keeping Chris Langford on the Commission ahead of the Academies bidding system decision than anything to do with racism, yet an opportunity was missed.
It will be interesting to see if any other indigenous players come out in support of Stokes as well as the reaction from the footy journalists.
Bookmarks