Hawthorn and the AFL have united in condemning the "vile and appalling" racial abuse directed at Mabior Chol through a series of direct messages on social media. The Hawks forward, who is of South Sudanese heritage, publicly shared screenshots of the offensive comments he received on Instagram following his team's narrow loss to the Western Bulldogs on Friday night.
"You can talk shit all you want but don't be like this guy," Chol wrote in his caption, highlighting the unacceptable nature of the abuse.
Chol kicked an equal game-high three goals for Hawthorn in their 12.5 (77) to 9.17 (71) defeat at the MCG. The 29-year-old, who previously played for Gold Coast and Richmond, has been the target of racist attacks multiple times throughout his decade-long AFL career.
AFL and Hawks Respond
On Saturday, both the Hawks and the AFL integrity unit confirmed they are collaborating to investigate the latest incident. If identified, the perpetrator could face a ban from attending AFL matches.
"Racism has no place anywhere, anytime - not in our game, not in the community and not online," AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan said in a statement. "Players, or anyone, should never be subjected to this sort of abuse. To be clear, if you think this behaviour is acceptable, then you are not welcome in our game."
McLachlan added: "Mabior's courage to call this out should be commended and our immediate focus is supporting him and the Hawthorn Football Club."
Hawthorn CEO Ash Klein echoed these sentiments, stating that racist behaviour is "simply not acceptable" and expressing the club's full support for Chol.
"There is no place for racism in our game and in our society," Klein said in a statement. "If you are the sort of person who thinks it's OK to make a comment or send a message like this, we don't want you as part of our game. We commend Mabior's courage in calling this out and we stand with him. Our immediate focus is on wrapping our arms around and supporting Mabior."
