As the President of a Club that has a proud history of Indigenous and multicultural footballers, Dale Alcock has conceded there is a long way to go to stamp out racism following the racist messages received by players Michael Walters and Michael Frederick on social media at the weekend.

Alcock said Fremantle were doing everything to support Walters and Frederick and that the Club would follow their direction on how to proceed with the matter.

“I was appalled, these are two very outstanding young men who play the game for our Club and members and supporters and then they’ve got to endure this post game, so they’re gutted,” Alcock said on ABC Radio.

In contrast to the racist comments, there was a flood of support online for Walters and Frederick, which started with their teammates and extended out to Fremantle fans.

Alcock was proud of how the players responded online.

“The playing group, they’re a very tight group. A very respectful and very inclusive group,” Alcock said. 

“That’s the culture that we’ve grown within the Club, so it’s extremely powerful when your teammates immediately go to work in support. 

“With racism, we have a long way to go and I think what the players are demonstrating is that racism stops with all of us, it’s on all of us to stop it here and stop it now.”

Alcock said the comments had been reported to the AFL, the eSafety Commissioner and WA Police.

“Since this became known to the Club, we’ve had myself, Simon Garlick, our player welfare manager Mark Anderson, Bob Murphy, Peter Bell, Joe Brierty all working on this with Sonny and Freddy and making sure we respect their decision and direction they want to take this,” Alcock said. 

“Certainly it’s been reported to the AFL integrity, the eSafety Commissioner and also to WA Police.

“Most importantly, the decision is with Sonny and Freddy and the club is very respectful that any direction on this has to be the chosen path of Sonny and Freddy. We have to support and respect these players’ decisions.”

Alcock spoke about the significant contribution Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander footballers in particular had made to Fremantle, and said it was on the Club to show that support in return.

“We’ve got a long history, Michael Walters has played 194 games. He’ll become our 12^th player to get to 200 games and our fourth Indigenous player alongside Antoni Grover, Michael Johnson and Stephen Hill,” Alcock said.

“In our 27 years, there’s been around 2400 games played by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people. That’s approximately 620 more than the next AFL club in the 125-year history of AFL/VFL. 

“We’ve got a pretty staggering history to date and I think that’s what our Purple Army is supportive of, it’s what our Club is about, it’s who we are and it’s what we are.

“From a Fremantle perspective, we’ve done a lot, we’ll continue to do a lot and there’s a lot more for us to do.”

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