Collingwood CEO Craig Kelly has condemned racist messages sent to Port Adelaide small forward Willie Rioli following the Pies' nailbiting win at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.
Taking to Instagram, Rioli shared multiple racist messages sent following the premiership-winning forward's involvement in a behind-the-play incident with Magpies defender Nathan Murphy.
Broadcast footage captured during the final quarter of the thrilling contest showed Rioli collect Murphy high with a hit that felled the backman.
Seeking to put a stop to the hatred, Kelly stated that Collingwood would not tolerate racism.
โThe Collingwood Football Club strongly condemns the abhorrent and disgusting racist remarks directed towards Willie Rioli,โ he said in an official club statement released on Sunday morning.
โThere is no room for racism in our game and we will not tolerate it โ not on the field, off the field or online.
โAll of us have a responsibility to call out this behaviour and our Club is committed to playing a role in educating as many members of the wider community as possible.
โWe stand alongside all First Nations players, staff and supporters.โ
Collingwood sent a similar message to its membership base in May after a fringe portion took to booing First Nations spearhead Lance Franklin during the Magpies' Round 8 clash against Sydney at the MCG.
In a subsequent statement, AFL CEO-Elect Andrew Dillon announced the league's Integrity Unit would work closely with the eSafety Commissioner's Office will attempt to identify the offending parties.
Sadly, Rioli has already been targetted by racist trolls this season, with the goalsneak left "distressed" following similar abuse in the wake of a similar incident with Essendon defender Jordan Ridley.ย
While Rioli was slapped with a two-game suspension after tangling with Ridley back in May, Port Adelaide head coach Ken Hinkley believed his forward had no case to answer this time around.
โNothing in it, surely, I looked at it,โ Hinkley said following his side's two-point loss.
โIt is a hand slipping up, an open hand.
โI always say they (the MRO) will take care of it and if it needs to be looked at they will.
โBut I have seen that one โฆ I've seen a lot worse.โ
Still sitting in second, Hinkley's charges face a stern run into September, with Adelaide (A), Geelong (A), GWS (H), Fremantle (A) and Richmond (H).
