Why two words can hurt so much: Fanning

Two words. 

They might not seem to carry much weight on the surface but the magnitude of directing a racial slur towards any player or person in society cannot be measured for Katrina Fanning.

The proud Wiradjuri woman and Australian Rugby League Indigenous Chairperson has lived and breathed rugby league for over 25 years and on Friday was celebrating her 50th birthday.

She was hoping to talk about her celebration plans but instead spoke out after Latrell Mitchell was subjected to racial abuse as he walked from the field at half-time in the side’s loss to Penrith.

Fanning, along with NRL CEO Andrew Abdo on Friday condemned the incident with ARLIC releasing a statement in support of the Rabbitohs fullback.

On a personal note she took solace from one part of the incident she finds there’s been big progress made in both rugby league and across society.

“What normally hurts the most is not always the words but the silence of people you respect around you,” Fanning told NRL.com.

“But last night other players who heard the comments reacted appropriately. No one went ‘it’s too hard to deal with and we’ve got a game to play’. They all said ‘that’s not on and we’ll call it out’.

“You’ve got a lot of people who are new to the journey but for some of us to see such strong, swift reaction is real progress.

“The fact that incidents still happen is no surprise to me but that there’s more people now dealing with it.

“It’s not ARLIC who are asked to deal with this, the NRL does because they’re saying it’s not good enough.

“We’re far stronger than we’ve ever been in this space. We’re not leaving it to Indigenous people to call it out.

“We are the leader in national sporting organisations in its commitment to truth-telling, reconciliation and promoting the excellence that exists in Indigenous communities.”

Fanning joined those rallying behind Mitchell but feared while the incident would bring light on the need for more education, it would be triggering for communities.

“What does it say to the thousands of Indigenous kids who look up to Latrell if he still gets treated like that?,” Fanning said.

“A young kid would think for all his success, all his talent and excellence… and they still think that of him? Then what do they think of me.

“The words go to that deeper segregation of people in this country, they go to being treated like less than human.

“If you have a look at how we were treated in legislations and policies, we weren’t treated as people or recognised for things that should be some of the proudest things Australia has… the longest living culture.

“Using reference to animals in hurtful words is just a call back to the dark days of treating us like less than human.

“Part of the process will be educating people around what they’ve just done. That’s the problem, there isn't enough of it from the start.”

ARLIC statement 

Katrina Fanning - Indigenous Council Chair

The incident at last night’s game shows racism is still an issue in our society and that Indigenous Australians still have to deal with it, in our workplaces and sporting events.

ARLIC stands with Latrell who is a wonderful ambassador for our game and our people and dedicates much of his time to community causes, especially our young people. 

There is no room for racism in rugby league or in society at large.

Those who choose to ignore this have no place in our game.

The NRL has acted quickly to address this incident and to offer support, as they should.

We still have more to do in educating the wider community about racism and its devastating impacts. 

ARLIC will continue to work with the game and our communities to highlight this issue and to drive the change that is needed.