Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has blasted a racist social media post directed at one of his players, saying if it came from a Hawks fan they are unwelcome at the AFL club.
Mitchell opened his media conference after Hawthorn’s 27-point win over Adelaide at the MCG with unprompted comments about the post targeting an unnamed player.
The Hawks confirmed the incident happened on Saturday and the player who was targeted knows about the abuse.
“I love footy and I love our game, and I think the position we have as leaders of the community, we need to do the best job we possibly can around discrimination,” Mitchell said.
“We have some stuff — I don’t want to go into it — but I just want to put it out there that if you have any form of racism in you, as a Hawthorn person, we’re not interested in having you as part of our club.
“So while we’re all enjoying a fantastic win, and we should all be enjoying it, unfortunately some parts of our Hawthorn family can’t enjoy it because of what heroes on their keyboards think they’re capable of doing.
“Any one of those who ever wears brown and gold, we don’t want you.”
Mitchell added: “For that to be called out because of how they look — honestly, grow up. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
He said he hesitated about giving publicity to the matter.
“I spoke to some people involved and said, ‘Is this something you want me [to say]?’, because I only want to help the people affected by it,” Mitchell said.
“When they are affected, all I can do is support them in any way I have the power to do.
“I get the power of a press conference [and I asked], ‘Do you want me to support that, or does it make it worse?’, and the comment was, ‘We need to show as much support as we can’.
“I have people who should be celebrating — who are celebrating still — but there’s a black dog following them around, if you like.”
AAP