Football code wars are silly, let the fans speak with their feet

Of soccer, I have always been fascinated by its global popularity and history, along with enjoying the technical and tactical skills needed.

AFL, which I was brought up with, is so athletic and has pace and physicality which I very much enjoy.   

The rugby codes interest me because they involve raw speed and power and I do admire their physical nature, although they have rightfully sought to make their games much safer and more attractive in recent years with some important rule changes.

No one really needs to undermine one game over another in terms of background detail either.  

I do not think it is accurate to accuse any Australian football code of not being able to see beyond the colour of a player’s skin any more than another.

Like any multi-ethnic country, all of the Australian football codes experience dark days with regard to racism.

While Australian Rules has had many adverse situations involving indigenous players, perhaps reflective of the reality that it (and rugby league) attracted most of their talented sportsmen over the years, no football codes has been immune from racism.

A quick search of Wikipedia highlights a number of recent incidents with soccer.

2000

It was reported that Perth Glory striker Bobby Despotovski called Melbourne Knights defender Ransford Banini a “black monkey”, although Despotovski denied this and claimed that he had said “shut up monkey”.

2008

South Korean-born Lee Corey, a referee, abandoned a South Australian State League fixture because of numerous racial taunts by spectators.