By Martin Cole-
The premier of New South Wales ,Dominic Perrottet, has called for for ‘life bans’ for racism at sporting games
The NSW premier, Dominic Perrottet, has weighed in on the alleged racial abuse faced by South Sydney star Latrell Mitchell last night.
Perrottet, who is on the campaign trail before the NSW election on 25 March, said the NRL should issue a life ban to the fan who was allegedly abusing Mitchell:
”There is no place for racism at sporting games or anywhere in NSW. When it happens, it should be stamped out immediately. There should be life bans in place and I call on the NRL to take that action.
”We’ve got to take leadership here and we’ve seen sporting codes take action to stamp this behaviour out whenever it happens.
”I don’t care how old the person is who is involved in racist behaviour at sporting events. It’s a disgrace.
‘It should be stamped out and there should be life bans in place and I call on the NRL to do it
His comments come after Australian boxer Tim Tszyu threw his weight behind Latrell Mitchell after the Rabbitohs star was allegedly racially abused during Thursday night’s NRL game against Penrith.
A fan was removed from Penrith’s BlueBet Stadium after the incident, which happened as the sides came from the field at halftime. The Daily Telegraph reported the fan was removed from the stadium during the halftime break.
Mitchell was allegedly called a “black dog” by a fan, with the player and several of his teammates hearing the slur as they walked into the tunnel.
Boxer: Tim Tszyu Image: Dazn.com
The alleged offender is reported to be a teenager who was wearing an NRL jersey – and they were neither a Rabbitohs or Panthers fan.
Rabbitohs coach Jason Demetriou called for the culprits to be handed a life ban, while others including Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary and Today host Brooke Boney have slammed the abuse.
Tszyu and Mitchell are both managed by No Limit Boxing, and the boxing star made a point of calling out the abuse at Friday’s official press conference ahead of his world title fight with Tony Harrison on Sunday.
“I just want to say before I start, shout out to Latrell,” Tszyu told reporters.“Faced a bit of abuse last night. There’s no need for racism in sport, in any sport. Just keep it professional. Yeah, good on him.
“I think it’s not good for the sport, for any sport. There’s no need to bring anything like politics, religion or stuff like that. We’re just trying to keep it professional and the way Latrell handled it was perfect.”
New vision has emerged of the moment the Rabbitohs players heard and reacted to the racist slur aimed at Mitchell.
Fox Sports’ Lara Pitt revealed it may have been more than one fan as security and police investigated the issue.
“I saw an incident at halftime in the tunnels as Souths players made their way to the sheds … the alleged fans involved in this have left the ground,” Pitt said on Fox League.
After the match, Souths coach Demetriou said Mitchell shows his character every week and “shows the quality person he is”.
But the coach was furious about the horrific incident.
“It’s not a claim, it actually happened,” Demetriou fumed in the press conference.
“It’s not the first time we’ve come here and our players have been racially abused. Where does it end? It’s just not on.
“I shouldn’t have to come here as a coach and lead a group of players in here to be racially abused. It’s not what our game’s about and we have to stamp it out completely. NRL, clubs, they have to get rid of it. Life bans. Anyone who wants to racially abuse, get them out of the game. We don’t want their support. It’s got to end.”
Asked how Latrell reacted, he said: “He’s sick of it. Why wouldn’t he be? He should be able to come here as a star of our game and not get racially abused. Who cares what colour he is? It’s just not on. I don’t understand how that happens in our day and age. I can’t get my head around how a young kid thinks that’s the language to be used. I don’t care what jersey he’s wearing, get them out of the game.
“This is not something Latrell has only had to deal with on the footy field, this is something he’s had to deal with his whole life. All Indigenous people do. I just can’t get my head around it, I don’t understand in Australia how anyone’s raised like that.
“Where as a game to do we say ‘no, no, it’s not happening.’ There has to be hard and fast rules that if anyone goes even close to being racial, they are completely ruled out of our game. And if it’s a kid, rule his parent out as well.
“If it was my child, I’d be absolutely ashamed, embarrassed that my child had even thought to speak like that.”
The unsavoury moment overshadowed a classic finish between the teams as the Panthers claimed a 16-10 win.