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Souths coach Jason Demetriou has called for life bans for fans who allegedly racially abused Latrell Mitchell as he left the field at half time of their 16-10 defeat to Penrith at Bluebet Stadium.
Demetriou was visibly angered by the alleged incident, in which a teenage fan is reported to have called Mitchell a “black dog”. The fan was ejected and the police are investigating.
“Where does it end?” said Demetriou. “It’s just not on. I shouldn’t have to come here as a coach and lead a group of players to be racially abused. It’s not on.
“It’s not what our game is about and we have to stamp it out completely. The NRL clubs have to get rid of it. Life bans, anybody wants to racially abuse, get them out of the game, we don’t want their support. It has to end.
“It’s not the first time we’ve come here as a club and our players have been racially abused,” he concluded, referring to the 2018 incident where Greg Inglis suffered similar abuse at Penrith Stadium.
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The supporter who allegedly made the comment was reported to be a teenager in a Sydney Roosters jersey and was said to be at the game with their father.
Mitchell and several Souths players could be seen reacting to the teenager, with Latrell saying ‘What did you say?’ and shaking his head as he left the pitch.
The fan was then removed and police could be seen talking to fans in the vicinity of the tunnel.
“From what I understand, security have done a great job identifying who it is, the club has done a great job of identifying who it is and now we’ll take it through the police,” said Demetriou.
“We’ll go all the way, as far as we can with it. As a club, we’ll stand right by Latrell.
“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 be racially abused. Who cares what colour he is?
“It’s 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 using. I don’t care what jersey he’s wearing. Get them out of our game.”
Demetriou also backed up Mitchell’s character, and added that he constantly deals with such abuse. In 2021, he reported two men to the police after receiving racist abuse on social media, resulting in the police pressing charges.
“Latrell answers his critics with his character every week,” he said.
“He just continually shows the quality person that he is. Again this is not just something that Latrell cops on the footy field. This is something that he has 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 is raised like that. It makes no sense to me whatsoever.
“Latrell is a real role model in our game. We love him at our club. He stands for the Indigenous people. He stands for good people.
“I just get worried about Latrell or any Indigenous player in our organisation. Where, as a game, do we say no, no, it is not happening?
“There has to be hard and fast rules. If anyone even comes close to being racial they have to be completely ruled out of our game. And if it is a young kid, rule his parents out as well.
“It is just not on. Why should you have to cop it? I can’t understand how he feels? I haven’t had to grow up with this stuff. But he has and other people have and I can’t get my head around it.
“If it was my child I would be absolutely ashamed and embarrassed that my child has even thought to speak like that.”
The Panthers swiftly released a statement pledging their support to an investigation.
“Penrith Panthers is aware of an alleged incident involving a rugby league fan that occurred at half-time of the Round 2 match against South Sydney Rabbitohs at BlueBet Stadium,” it read.
“The NRL was immediately informed of the alleged matter, and the club will work with the NRL to investigate the situation. At this point, Panthers will make no further comment.”
NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said the NRL Integrity Unit was investigating the alleged incident.
“Any form of racism or vilification will not be tolerated in our sport,” he said.
“We will not accept this behaviour from anyone. We are working with the stadium and the club to get all the facts. The Integrity Unit will investigate fully.
“We will stand behind our players and commend them for calling out this behaviour.”
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