Roosters coach Trent Robinson has apologised on behalf of the membership on Friday after Rabbitohs fullback Latrell Mitchell was allegedly racially abused by a younger fan sporting the Tricolours jersey at BlueBet Stadium on Thursday night time.
The incident allegedly occurred at halftime as gamers had been strolling off the sphere in the course of the Rabbitohs 16-10 loss to the Panthers.
Robinson slammed the behaviour as “wrong and unacceptable”, however admitted he wasn’t shocked.
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When requested if he may consider it was nonetheless occurring in 2023, Robinson mentioned, “yeah I can because that is where we are still at as a country.”
“It’s pretty standard. Some are casual racists and some are overt, like it was last night and that’s still where we are at.”
Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou known as for a life ban for the spectator in his post-game press convention with Robinson echoing his counterpart’s ideas the next morning.
“We have to stamp it out,” Robinson mentioned
“It’s not about teams and who someone plays for, this is a deeper issue and it’s unacceptable.”
Mitchell received two premierships on the Roosters beneath Robinson (2018,2019) earlier than becoming a member of the Rabbitohs from 2020 and the coach emphasised the 25-year-old is “too strong” to step away from the sport.
“This isn’t the first time that this has happened with Latrell and he understands that it’s a part of his life and he’ll use it and respond in his way and the right way,” Robinson mentioned.
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“People out there don’t like people like him having a really strong voice and him voicing it in different ways.
“He’s got his way of expressing himself and that’s cool.
“We’re still not at a point in this country that we are ready to accept really strong indigenous voices and that’s really disappointing.”
NRL CEO Andrew Abdo additionally voiced his disgust on Friday (hyperlink to Fox Sports story) and confirmed the NRL was co-operating with police.
“We will not accept players subjected to any form of vilification or abuse. It’s completely unacceptable” Abdo mentioned.
“Let’s be honest, these types of things hurt.
“Latrell is a human being. Comments like this affect us, whether or not we want to admit that.
“He knows the game stands behind him, and I think he is gaining a lot of strength from the support that he has from everyone inside the game.”
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
