The West Coast Eagles have released a statement after young forward Jarrod Cameron was targeted by racist online abuse on social media, calling the attack "appalling and bewildering".
The teen player shared the hateful racist message he received in his inbox publicly on his social media account, simply asking his followers: "when will it stop".
Derby downpour: West Coast’s Jarrod Cameron celebrates a rain-drenched goal against Fremantle.Credit:AAP
Teammates Willie Rioli and Liam Ryan were quick to throw their support behind the 19-year old, saying "got yor back lil bro, love ya cuz!".
The troll account from which the hateful message was sent seems to have been set up solely to stir trouble with no posts or followers attached to it.
Cameron is the latest in a long line of West Coast players to be the target of racist online slurs and teammates.
Following Cameron's post, the club put out a statement supporting the young player.
"The West Coast Eagles Football Club is appalled and bewildered by the racist attack on young forward Jarrod Cameron – the latest abhorrent and unacceptable act on social media," a spokesman said.
"Clearly, as a society, we have a lot of work to do to eradicate these assaults on our indigenous players – as well as other racist attitudes – and we must continue to educate fellow Australians on community expectations.
"These hurtful insults cannot continue and our club will do all within its power to bring this behaviour to an end."
The club signed off its message with the hashtag "#whenwillitend".
Former West Coast great Karl Langdon told Nine News Perth racial vilification cannot be ignored and social media providers needed to take responsibility.
"Every single person that wants to use social media and be gutless and hide behind an alias online needs to be called out.
"We need to hold those companies who allow that to continue to account," he said.
In November 2019 Liam Ryan's daughter was subjected to racist abuse, while back in March Ryan himself was targeted by racist messages.
Also in November West Coast star ruckman Nic Naitanui revealed he had been racially abused on social media frequently during the AFL season.
Naitanui, one of the AFL's most loved players, said about one in ten messages he received on social media during the AFL season were racist in sentiment, a situation he called "disappointing".
"Yeah. I get a heap. You know, it comes to a point where you don't want to post it or put it on. You get a lot of players who will post it and put it out there. To me, that's beneficial at times, because it is calling them out – I've done it a few times.
"But then it gets to a point where how much voice do you give these people?"
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