1
Cross-code star: 'The bloke who racially vilified me just sort of shook hands and left it there'
By Online Editors
Former Wallabies and Kangaroos wing Wendell Sailor has spoken about the racial abused he has been forced to endure during his sporting career.
“I don’t want to go back naming teams or naming players, but since I was seven or eight, I’ve had it (racist abuse) in football, I’ve had it out of football," Sailor revealed on Sky Sports UK's Golden Point podcast. “It still happens.”
The Queenslander played over 50 matches combined for the Australian national union and league sides while he amassed over 200 games in the NRL.
Sailor went on to discuss some of the specific instances of racism that he'd experienced on the field.
“I suppose I have never gotten into it so much outside of my work, but I remember as a young international, playing for the Kangaroos, it happened.
“I won’t say the team, I don’t want to get into it, because it happened to me and I sort of left it on the field. The bloke who racially vilified me just sort of shook hands and left it there. That’s what you did back in the 90s.
“I suppose when I played in the NRL, it happened once or twice. Rugby not so much. Even when I went to South Africa, it happened with the fans. But you just learn to live with it.”
While Sailor said that he had learned to deal with the abuse throughout his career, there was no excuse for what occurred and in the current day and age, things must change.
"At the time [I probably wasn't affected by it], because if you need to racially vilify me, that’s your problem, it’s not my problem.
“So I used it. The more you went at me, the more it built me up. I’m going to take a tougher carry, I’m going to try and score a try, that’s my way of saying: ‘Come at me with everything you’ve got.’
“You just learn to deal with it, whereas in 2020 now, things have got to change.
"For me, because I'm of indigenous background, it's been tough. I have a young daughter, two sons. It's just so close to home.
"I see it happens in the Premier League to some of the great black soccer players. The NBA, it happens in the NBA.
"It's gut-wrenching to see, especially when you have young kids and you just want it to change, and you think it is going to change."
Sailor's eldest son, Tristan, plays for St George Illawarra in the NRL.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
English club target Liam Williams for Premiership return
3
Rassie Erasmus holds the solution to England's Jamie George conundrum
4
The Springboks have something you don't have
5
Latest Comments
I agree with a lot of this. Especially changing the contract side of AB rugby - even if the current structure is not the main reason Razor and others before him keep selecting players past their prime and only introducing new ones when forced to by injury. Then they act all surprised when a new player lives up to their potential and performs! Deification of good older players is a problem because, like Foster, it implies they have secret knowledge that plebs don't - despite the evidence before our eyes. Razor's first year has been a pretty big average and one hopes he gets some courage back around selection and game plan from lessons learned this year. Not hopeful though based on the selection for Italy. If they win well, (as they should) he will tout it as justification for his persistence this year but the reality is a "second" team from the squad would probably do the job.
Go to commentsIrish injury count is going up by the minute.
Go to comments