Adelaide Crows star Taylor Walker has been banned for six games by the AFL after the league found he made a racist comment at an SANFL game.

Key points:

  • Walker will miss the remaining three games of this season, and the first three of 2022
  • He has apologised for the remark, saying he is “embarrassed, ashamed and remorseful”
  • The comment was reported by one of the Crows’ officials

The comment was reported to the club by one of its own officials.

Walker, who has apologised for the incident, will also have to make a donation of $20,000 to an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program in SA.

“There is no excuse or justification for the words I said,” Walker said in a statement released by the AFL.

“They are unacceptable and I take full accountability for that. I am deeply ashamed.

The comment was made in reference to North Adelaide player Robbie Young — who is Aboriginal and used to play for AFL side St Kilda — during a Crows reserves match in the SANFL on July 17.

The comment was reported by an Adelaide Crows official, sparking an investigation by the AFL Integrity Unit.

“Taylor Walker of the Adelaide Crows, who was not playing in the match, made a racist comment regarding North Adelaide player, Robbie Young, to an Adelaide Crows teammate who was playing,” the AFL said in its statement.

“An Adelaide Crows official overheard the comment and reported the incident to the club who reported it to the AFL.”

The AFL said Robbie Young had accepted Walker’s apology.(

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The six-game ban will see Walker miss the remaining three games of this season, and the first three of the 2022 season.

The AFL said that Walker had apologised to Young and the official who reported the comment, and that both had accepted the apology.

“I did not intend to cause harm, but I know and understand that I have caused deep hurt to the official who reported the matter and to Robbie Young, to both of their families and to the wider Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. I apologise to all of them and to the Adelaide and North Adelaide football clubs,” Walker said.

“The official who reported this showed courage and leadership in calling out what I said, and I am determined to do what I can to emulate his actions.”

Other punitive measures against Walker include undertaking an education program involving volunteering “in appropriate community programs”.

He will also privately apologise to staff and officials at the Adelaide club, and do the same with North Adelaide players.

Club official praised for speaking out

AFL inclusion and social policy executive general manager Tanya Hosch was involved in the formal conciliation process under the AFL’s Peek Rule, which relates to vilification and discrimination.

Tanya Hosch praised the official for reporting the comment.(

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Ms Hosch said she accepted Walker’s remorse, but that “racist actions and behaviours are inexcusable”.

“I have no doubt Mr Walker is remorseful, understands that his comments can trigger trauma and seriously impact the mental health of the individuals, families and communities involved and he has accepted his sanctions,” she said.

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Walker was absent from the Crows’ morning training yesterday ahead of Saturday’s AFL Showdown against Port Adelaide.

Today he said he wanted to be an “active participant in addressing racism in our game and the wider community”.

“This starts by educating myself so I can influence others and make a positive difference moving forward,” Walker said.

“I know I need to back up my apology with action, and this is my commitment.”

The Crows today said Walker had admitted to making the comment, and that the club “strongly” condemned his behaviour as well as “any form of racial vilification”.

“He’s owned the mistake … and we expect him to front the media in the not-too-distant future.

“It was a serious error of judgment for him. He’s disappointed in himself. He couldn’t believe, really, that it came out of his mouth. But he needed to own it because it did. He’s apologetic, and just genuinely embarrassed.”

Walker has previously been outspoken against racism.(

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Silvers said he found out about the incident not long after the SANFL game.

“There was an internal person that reported it to us [and] we referred it to the AFL straightaway, so it was self-reporting and we went through the process, the racial vilification investigation process. That took over two weeks but we felt like it was the right thing to do,” he said.

“We think it took some real courage from someone internal and it sets our culture a little bit, that an internal person was able to hold up someone who’s been at the club for 14 years, with such an illustrious career, to hold him to account for what he said.

“I genuinely couldn’t believe [Walker] would say something like that.

“We haven’t even got to speaking about his future.”

‘A lot of people have been hurt’

Adelaide Crows coach Matthew Nicks fought back tears as he expressed remorse on behalf of the club.

“There have been a lot of people who have been hurt by this, the Indigenous community first and foremost.

“It’s times like this you make phone calls to people you’ve played alongside, and you apologise to them. You just want to be able to look them in the eye and say, ‘We’ve got your back’. It’s hard to do at the moment.”

The episode has left a cloud over Walker’s playing future and Nicks said he could not answer the question of whether Walker would continue to play next year, or when he would return to training.

“We spoke on Thursday firstly over the phone. Tex was obviously really struggling at that point and still is. I’m not sure that Tex quite understands or knows why it came out of his mouth,” he said.

Crows coach Matthew Nicks became emotional during his statement.(

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He said he “couldn’t be more proud” of the official who reported the incident.

Nicks was also asked about whether Walker should be fronting the media today.

“It’s a really tough one for me to comment around where Tex should be at the moment. That’s not my priority at the moment,” he said.

“There is the human side to it, Taylor’s going through quite a tough time at this point.

“At the right time, he will come out and talk.”

Comment was ‘damaging and divisive’, AFLPA says

AFL Players’ Association CEO Paul Marsh said he had also spoken to Walker, and that the AFLPA was “extremely disappointed at the language used” by the Crows veteran.

“We would like to acknowledge Robbie Young, and we have reached out to him to offer our support. We would also like to commend the Adelaide Crows official for his courage in tackling this issue.”

Posted , updated