Who's the Skunk?

Football has rules to deal with allegations of racist sledging, but the sooner prominent 'white fella' footballers promote a more sophisticated grasp of indigenous matters the better. Just what went on between Carlton's Justin Murphy and St Kilda's 'Spider' Everitt is a matter for speculation.

What's undisputed is that indigenous footballers have been called everything from 'black c….' to 'coconut'. If skunk has been added to the repertoire it suggests we need more than just rules. If it's not politic for AFL players to speak out, maybe it's time for VFL coaches and players to take the lead.

What's disappointing is that Everitt used his position on Channel Nine's Footy Show to accuse Murphy of calling him a racist. If Murphy's counter claim that Everitt actually called him a skunk, is correct, it raises some serious questions.

Without actually taking sides, Sam Newman asked Everitt whether he thought Murphy was trying to goad him into making a racist comment. That's a reasonable question if you have all the facts. But is it reasonable if you don't? And what about Everitt's record on the matter of racial sledging? Why not ask if he's moved on?

Following on from Tony Shaw's comments about Dean Rioli hiding behind his aboriginality, it leaves you with plenty to think about.

A couple of years ago, I wrote an article for the Australian on the matter. It included the following:

A week after John Elliott said Aborigines were a forgotten people who'd never worked the land like white farmers, Newman, in a throw back to Al Jolson chose to paint his face black and portray blacks as people who, when white fella whistles, go walkabout

On the white fella's football terraces and in his corridors of power Walkabout has always been code for "black, unreliable and won't work". That's the view of aborigines our man of toil, John Elliott, crudely attempted to explain to an audience of bemused accountants.

In Elliott's ignorant mind Indigenous Australians have brought nothing to this continent. The Dreamtime and the art which white fella now trades for profit, the indigenous cultural images which decorate the white fella's tourist brochures, the music and language which embellishes our culture, the intimate knowledge of the environment and the skill bought to the sporting field are lost on him.

Six years ago Collingwood president, Alan McAllister, told the sporting world that blacks would be "respected when they learn white fella's ways". In the same breath, Tony Shaw and the usual suspects said they saw nothing wrong with the use of racial taunts on the football field. To their credit both Shaw and McAllister eventually recanted........

Before you fall off your chair Sam, try to understand how, while you were in short pants at Geelong Grammar, white fella justified pinching Aboriginal children from their screaming, frantic mothers. It was simple really. Blacks were unreliable. They went walkabout, had strange customs, didn't know about God and Christianity and even spoke another language. At every turn there was a myth, a prejudice and a joke to assist those that believed or wanted to believe that only with the assistance of white fella could black children grow up into good Aussies

Criticise someone for outmoded views on black- white relations and invariably you'll be accused of bleeding heart elitism. Equally, the cry 'call me a racist and I'll consult my lawyer' goes out the minute you take up the statement. Racist sledging doesn't make someone a racist. Nor do ignorant comments about someone's racial background. The problem is, it can easily sound racist. And ultimately, we'll all be judged by what we say. Worse than that, so often it sounds like we've learnt nothing about the consequences of invasion and colonisation.