The Albany Gazette - Australian Rules bosses blast 'vile' racist abuse of player

Hawthorn forward Mabior Chol posted a screenshot of the comments he received on Instagram following his side's loss to the Western Bulldogs in Melbourne on Friday night.

"Don't be like this guy," Chol wrote in his caption, referring to a series of remarks loaded with racist and foul abuse.

Chol was also the target of racial abuse on social media in 2022 when he was playing for the Gold Coast Suns.

Hawthorn and the Australian Football League said they were investigating the latest in a string of similar incidents to blight Australia's most popular spectator sport.

"Racism has no place anywhere, anytime -- not in our game, not in the community and not online," AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said in a statement.

"Players, or anyone, should never be subjected to this sort of abuse.

"Mabior's courage to call this out should be commended and our immediate focus is supporting him and the Hawthorn Football Club."

Hawthorn boss Ash Klein called the remarks "vile and appalling".

"It is simply not acceptable," he said. "If you are the sort of person who thinks it's OK to make a comment or send a message like this, we don't want you as part of our game."

Australian Rules has a long history of racist incidents targeting mostly Aboriginal and other Indigenous players.

The sport's governing body began proactively tackling the issue in the 1990s.

It included adopting a policy that made it an offence for players or officials to insult someone because of their race, religion, ethnicity, colour, nationality or background.

In 2023, nine fans were banned for life for racially abusing players, but problems persist.

(P.Clark--TAG)