‘We can do better’: WA country football coach quits in protest at racist on-field slur

An Indigenous country football coach has quit in protest of a “disappointing” on-field incident in which a racial slur was directed at an Aboriginal player.

Maxwell Jetta, cousin of former AFL players Lewis Jetta and Neville Jetta, has resigned as a coach in Western Australia’s prestigious South West Football League in a stand against racism in the sport.

It came after his club, the South Bunbury Football Club, was fined $200 over a racist taunt one of its players directed at Carey Park forward Hayden Yarran on May 14.

Mr Jetta had coached South Bunbury’s women’s team to three premierships.

“This decision really was about myself as a community person, an Aboriginal person, a family man and a mentor as well,” Mr Jetta said.

He echoed calls by Yarran for more to be done to stamp out racism in the league.

“We should be doing more, not only as football clubs, only as community members, but everyone in general all over, you know, racism is out there, as you can see.

“I think we can do better as people.”

Mr Jetta said he wanted the player who abused Yarran during the match to come forward.

He said it was disappointing racism was still prevalent in the sport years after people like AFL star Adam Goodes took a national stand against it.

“It’s disappointing … we are in 2022,” he said.

“Are we just going to do the same thing over and over again until everything gets swept under the rug?

The Jetta family has a long history for campaigning against racism across Australia.

Former West Coast Eagles player Lewis Jetta publicly supported Adam Goodes in calls for traditional Indigenous dances at AFL matches.

Club ‘reluctantly’ accepts resignation

In a statement, the South Bunbury Football club said it respected Mr Jetta’s decision to stand down, but did not acknowledge the reason for his resignation.

Loading

“The South Bunbury Football Club has reluctantly accepted the resignation of Max Jetta as coach of our women’s football team for personal reasons,” a spokesperson said.

“On the field, Max has had a remarkable triple premiership success, he has been a fantastic leader off the field and become a great friend and mentor to so many.”

In a previous statement, the club apologised for the incident and vowed to promote cultural education and awareness to all its players, members and supporters.

Hayden Yarran, the Noongar player who reported the incident against him, said he had dealt with racism his entire life and more than once during his time playing football.

“Growing up, I dealt with a lot of racism,” he said.

“It was quite regular as a kid and through teenager, not much during my adulthood — there’s only two occasions when I’ve had to deal with it and they were both on the footy field.”

Yarran had called for on-the-spot penalties for racial slurs.

Additional reporting by Zoe Keenan and Dominique Bayens