But after weathering the Crows’ onslaught in the second term the Power kicked six third-quarter goals to trail by just a point at the final break – during which Hinkley addressed his group in front of the club’s faithful in the forward pocket. She then reaches down and picks up a yellow object, flinging it in Betts direction.
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“Any object thrown onto the field in the direction of players, coaches or umpires is completely unacceptable and the club will conduct a full investigation in the coming days”.
The club also relied on testimony from Port Adelaide fans in the vicinity, who said her action was accompanied by racist sledging through the match.
“And I don’t think the club would oppose that”, he said.
Port Adelaide is proud of its history of recruiting and developing Aboriginal players on field and is equally proud of its Aboriginal community programs off field that promote the welfare, education and employment of Aboriginal youth across South Australia and the Northern Territory.
Betts was contacted personally by Koch on Sunday in the wake of the incident, but only last week was urging the AFL to stamp out racism in the stands.
SA premier Mr Weatherill said he and most other football fans at the game were impressed with Betts’s performance, while condemning the actions of the unruly fan.
“He said “that’s exactly the thing that you should do”.
The call to action was led by Crows captain Taylor Walker, who tweeted his disappointment.
A Facebook video appeared on social media showing a woman hurling a banana at the Indigenous player but it was slapped away by team-mate Josh Jenkins.
The incident comes after much of the AFL’s 2015 season was marred by booing and racial vilification of Sydney’s indigenous star Adam Goodes.
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The Adelaide Crows issued a statement saying the club was “disappointed and disgusted” by the behaviour of some fans at the game. “Very disappointing”, he said.
