Almanac (Cartoon) Comment: Yvette Wroby on Taylor Walker and racism in footy

 

 

 

About Yvette Wroby

Yvette Wroby writes, cartoons, paints through life and gets most pleasure when it's about football, and more specifically the Saints. Believes in following dreams and having a go.

Comments

  1. Football Analyst says

    Excellent cartoon.

    There’s absolutely no place for racism in football or in life.

    Hang your head in shame Taylor Walker and any other person who has the audacity to make racist comments. They must be held to account for the integrity of the game and the poor mental health that’s caused to their victims.

  2. Football Analyst says

    At the very least Taylor Walker should go on camera with ex St Kilda player and current SANFL player Robbie Young and sincerely apologise directly to his face for all the hurt he has caused Robbie Young and his family and the whole Indigenous community and mean it! I also want Taylor Walker to appeal to all the faceless internet trolls who target Indigenous and African Australian footballers, especially, and tell those internet trolls that their behaviour has to stop and what they’re doing is unwarranted, pathetic and totally unacceptable!

    I know Taylor Walker has been told to go an education program also.

  3. Braham Dabscheck says

    Well done Yvette. Pictures worth thousands of words. Also the rubbish that has been directed at Aliir Aliir. No one should have to put up with this.

  4. Spot on Yvette!

  5. Yvette Wroby says

    Even more relevant when Robbie sits there during another apology and ‘helps’ Tex… appalling ….leave the abused out of these events that make the white fellow feel forgiven

  6. Personally, I’m impressed with Taylor Walker’s unqualified apology. And the fact that he and the bloke he abused are talking and working together has got to be a good thing. Otherwise, how else can we really address this kind of deeply rooted racism in our culture? Part of it has to come through whitefellas and blackfellas talking and working together.

    Actually, I think we might take Walker’s apology as an exemplary point of reference. Imagine if we could see that same level of mea culpa from our political representatives, acknowledging their errors and failings? Alas, pigs might fly.

  7. Yvette Wroby says

    Thanks Malcolm … I watched Tony Armstrong’s response and felt he spelled it out the best (on morning abc if this link can’t be followed)

    https://twitter.com/tonaaayy_/status/1424849157747994626?s=21

    Thanks

  8. Yvette Wroby says

    ThanksMacolm… I suggest we listen to our indigenous commentators on this… see Tony Armstrong’s comments on the ABC morning show.

    https://twitter.com/tonaaayy_/status/1424849157747994626?s=21

  9. Malcolm, with due respect, it’s not about what you think about Taylor Walker’s apology. It’s all about what the Indigenous people, who are the ones that are at the centre of Taylor Walker’s racist comment to Robbie Young, think about the apology.

    Countless members of the Indigenous community are still upset with Taylor Walker’s apology and have been interviewed on television and quoted in newspaper articles.

    Yvette was completely right to forward to you a version of Tony Armstrong’s reply.

    What is also relevant is that Sharrod Wellingham, another former Indigenous AFL footballer, said Taylor Walker’s apology after being suspended for racism could have been more heartfelt.

    Australia’s first Indigenous Olympic gold medallist Nova Peris says Taylor Walker has deep-seeded racist views and has questioned whether Taylor Walker should be allowed to play AFL ever again.

    Malcolm, even on Footy Classified, Kane Cornes said the video is not enough and insists Walker needs to front the media and answer for his actions.

    Footy Classified host Craig Hutchison agreed that Walker’s video apology achieved little but doubted whether it was possible for him to play at Adelaide again.

    Malcolm, I have only covered a small sample of the responses from the Indigenous community. Many are more harsh than these replies.

  10. Malcolm, imagine if everyone took your view. The battle against racism would never be achieved.

    Malcolm. it’s not a matter of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people talking and working together, to solve the problem. It’s a matter of the shallow, non educated, non Indigenous people who have racist views to admit they have the problem and change their whole attitude on their own in favour of the Indigenous people.

    What also happened to Adam Goodes with the continual booing and what happened to Nicky Winmar and Gilbert McAdam, the latter two at Victoria Park in 1993 and Robert Muir at Victoria a Park in the 1980s was deplorable and beyond the comprehension of any reasonable person. Eddie Betts has been quoted as saying he cops it every week as a footballer on and off the field, not to mention social media. Attitudes must change immediately by these abusers!

    Malcolm, it’s not enough to defend Taylor Walker’s apology. You failed to acknowledge the feelings that were hurt by the Indigenous community. I sincerely hope Malcolm that you have learnt your lesson!

  11. Malcolm McKinnon says

    Thanks Gavin and Yvette,
    I did of course contemplate the wisdom of sticking my head above the parapet on this one! But I think you miss my point, which is essentially that racism diminishes all of us, so we all need to be involved in addressing it. In my experience, part of the essential work here really is about Indigenous and settler Australians talking together, often about difficult and painful stuff. We know that football is one good forum for doing this. My reading of the Taylor Walker incident and its aftermath is that as much as it shows us that we still have a long way to go, it also shows that we’re making progress. And in doing so we need courage, humility and grace, from all sides.

  12. Daryl Schramm says

    Kudos to you Yvette for posting the cartoon and backing up with the link to Tony Armstrong’s response. TA has subtlety called out each and every one of us who has ever made a racist comment out of earshot of anyone who might be offended.

  13. Well said DS. Hopefully TA can continue to be the strong, powerful voice in the media representing the Indigenous community. This is exactly what Eddie Betts has requested from the media, that powerful voice that will call out any racist comments. Well done TA, for the job you’ve been doing. Eddie Betts is sick of continual racism to the Indigenous community and it’s great that Eddie Betts fronted the media yesterday. Well done, Eddie.

  14. Another potential powerful voice in the media apart from TA, can be a fellow Indigenous football commentator in ex Fitzroy and 3 time Brisbane Lions premiership player, Chris Johnson, who is eloquent in the special comments for AFL matches on channel 7 and 774 ABC Melbourne. Both TA and EB are very good AFL football commentators. TA has been a revelation in the actual calling of the game. In fact, Eddie Betts doesn’t really mind if that powerful voice in the media for the Indigenous people is Indigenous or not, as long as that person/s stands up in the fight against racism, by keep calling it out, as well as having conversations with your family about it.

  15. Sorry, I meant to type TA and CJ are very good football commentators, not TA and EB.

  16. I don’t know what Taylor Walker said, I don’t care what Taylor Walker said, the fact he was willing to make these comments is totally unacceptable.

    In 2021 the fact a captain in an AFL team playing with/against indigenous players can hold these thoughts indicate an unresolved problem. This particular episode pertains to the sporting arena, but it reflects a deeper malaise in the Australian community.

    The Adam Goodes case was a chance for the AFL to send a strong message out to Australia that any sort of racism within the realms of football was unacceptable. A man who was a dual Brownlow medallist, an Australian of the Year, was hounded out of a game he excelled in. Of course the AFL can’t be held responsible for the bogans who booed Goodes but their unwillingness to take hard,fast action let it fester. Proper action then may have resonated to the Taylor Walker’s out there; both on & off the field.

    Maybe the players have to take the decisive action. If a match is in progress and players can hear racist abuse both sides should sit down until the perpetrators are removed. If play commences, then the racist abuse continues, the players should pull the plug. I’d be surprised if that would ever happen but it would send an unforgettable message.

    Taylor Walker’s attempt at an apology seemed primarily about him being hurt. I found it very challenging to watch. What about some ‘truth telling’ for Taylor Walker and the others who perpetuate this kind of abhorrent behaviour? It may help explain the impact of racism has had on the people who have lived on this land for 50,000+ years.

    We all should remember: White Australia has a Black history.

    Glen!

  17. You have made very good points Glen.

    Perhaps, as well, like they’ve been doing for every Big Bash match at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, the AFL players kneel for a minute on the ground before the start of every AFL game, to stand against racism. I know Richmond and Collingwood players did that in June last year for the restarted AFL season, for the Black Lives matter movement, but it needs to be done again, in light of the Taylor Walker racist comment, as well as what’s been documented in the media this week with Aliir Aliir and Kysaiah Pickett.

    I think Gillon McLachlan has done the right thing by appealing to the internet trolls who make racist comments online, to think before they type. That is, Gillon is trying to reinforce the view these internet trolls have to pretend that their intended target is their mother, father, brother, sister or any other family member that the hurt is directed towards. I hope his advice will help. It’s going to be a long battle but that’s a start.

    Also, without wanting to offend any Almanacker, I think that Eddie Maguire could also be that powerful voice in the media that Eddie Betts wants. Yes I know, Eddie has not been a saint (pardon the pun), but I sincerely hope that he has learnt from the hurt that he caused Adam Goodes and the Indigenous community by asking AG to promote the musical KK, and EM’s subsequent apology to Adam Goodes. Also, hopefully EM has also learnt from all the racism that occurred while he was the Collingwood President, to not only Indigenous footballers but what also occurred with Heritier Lumumba.

    Eddie Maguire is still the most powerful voice in the media, with hosting both The Hot Seat every week day and Footy Classified, the latter on Wednesday night. Of course, he’s still a main AFL commentator on Fox Footy. So, the least Eddie M can do now, is to be that powerful voice, with the permission of Eddie Betts, to fight against racism.

    If it’s not Eddie M, then any AFL commentator/s or person/s in the media can be that powerful voice that’s desperately needed.by Eddie Betts and the whole of the Indigenous community.

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