- Adelaide Crows star Izak Rankine is in hot water
- Follows on-field slur aimed at Collingwood player
- Could be rubbed out for the season with finals looming
A host of footy identities have called for the AFL to reduce suspensions for players guilty of anti-gay slurs.
It comes as Adelaide Crows midfielder Izak Rankine is facing a potential five-game ban that would rule him out for the rest of the season after ‘The Magician’ allegedly called a Collingwood rival a ‘f****t’ during his team’s last-start win on Saturday.
Gold Coast Suns coach Damien Hardwick fears the AFL has ‘painted itself into a corner’ when it comes to players sitting out matches following homophobic outbursts.
‘By no means do I condone the behaviour, but I think that the term of suspension is probably the challenge point that clubs feel….we certainly know there is no place for it in the game but at what stage, what can we say and what can’t we say?’ he said on AFL 360.
‘We cannot say this, and we understand that, but it is probably the penalty for me that I have a little bit of an issue with, it is a significant penalty I feel.’
Former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire hopes new AFL footy boss Greg Swann will ‘recalibrate’ suspensions for players, while AFL great Leigh Matthews wondered whether players should be hit with a $50,000 fine and shorter bans going forward.
A host of footy identities have called for the AFL to reduce suspensions for players guilty of anti-gay slurs, including Gold Coast Suns head coach Damien Hardwick (pictured)
Adelaide Crows midfielder Izak Rankine (pictured with Calista Mittiga) is facing a potential five-game ban after he allegedly called a Collingwood rival a ‘f****t’ during his team’s last-start win on August 16
If Rankine is rubbed out for the season, it would be a hammer blow for the Crows leading into the finals as he is arguably their best player.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360, Garry Lyon said he sympathised with Adelaide – but not Rankine, who is likely to be ‘sitting in the stands’ at the business end of the season.
Essendon coach Brad Scott confirmed one of his players recently uttered a gay slur in a team meeting, which was then used as a teaching point.
‘There is no place for it and the ramifications are unbelievably significant,’ he said.
On Channel Seven’s The Agenda Setters, journalist Caroline Wilson pointed out some players resort to taunting rival stars about their ‘wives and partners, their sisters and children’ – but suspensions don’t follow.
AFL legend Brendan Fevola had a different view, calling for the league to ‘throw the book’ at Rankine.
‘This needs to be stamped out in our game and in society,’ he said on Fox’s FM’s Fifi, Fev & Nick show on Tuesday.
‘There is no room for it. Everyone is talking about finals… it doesn’t matter if it’s round one or a practice game. ‘Hopefully, the AFL throw the book at him.”
Rankine (pictured with Calista Mittiga) has since reached out to the Collingwood player and apologised – but he faces a nervous wait after the AFL launched an investigation into the matter
In ominous signs for Rankine, West Coast’s Jack Graham was suspended for four matches in July for making a homophobic slur about a GWS player.
Graham – unlike Rankine – self-reported the incident, with AFL finding the Eagles star guilty of ‘conduct unbecoming.’
Port Adelaide’s Jeremy Finlayson was banned for three games after directing a homophobic slur last year during Gather Round while Gold Coast defender Will Powell copped a five-match suspension in May for the same offence.
Rankine has since reached out to the Collingwood player and apologised – but he faces a nervous wait after the AFL launched an investigation into the matter, with their findings expected by the end of the week.
