AFL and St Kilda apologise to former Aboriginal player for 'disgraceful' racial abuse

The Melbourne-based St Kilda AFL club has issued an unreserved apology to former Aboriginal player Robert Muir after he revealed the racial abuse he experienced – including being urinated on by a fellow player in the changing rooms – during his years at the club in the 1970s and 1980s.

Muir’s ordeal and the life-changing impact the abuse had on him was revealed in an extensive interview with the ABC, published on Sunday morning.

The AFL also joined St Kilda in apologising for what it described as the “disgraceful racism and disrespect Robert Muir endured during his playing years in our game and thank him for his courage in speaking out today”.

On Sunday afternoon St Kilda chief executive Matt Finnis said reading the impacts of racism on Muir would be “confronting for everyone involved in football, as it was for me personally”.

“We admire Robert’s courage to speak out about the racism he has endured and lack Former of support provided by our club when he needed it most,” Finnis said.

“We apologise unreservedly to Robert and his family and are humbled that he continues to love our club.”

The apology comes as AFL clubs celebrate Indigenous players this weekend with its Sir Doug Nicholls round – named after the former Fitzroy player who was the first Aboriginal Australian to receive a knighthood.

The round had already been struck with controversy after the AFL was hit with a bill from a clothing company that holds rights over the use of the Aboriginal flag on merchandise.

Related: Freeing the Aboriginal flag: how a 'uniting symbol' ended up in the hands of the few

Muir had described a chronicle of racial abuse and mistreatment, the ABC reported, where Muir was spat on, pelted with bottles and abused by racist mobs of fans.

Muir came from the Cummeragunja Mission, an Aboriginal reserve near Barmah in Victoria. He played 68 games for the club in the 1970s and 1980s.

When he arrived at St Kilda as a 20-year-old in 1974, Muir said he was showering after his first training session when one of the club’s star players, whom the article did not identify, urinated on him. Teammates responded with laughter.

Finnis said as clubs celebrated Indigenous players this weekend, “we must face the reality that the St Kilda Football Club has made grave errors in the past and may still be failing to grasp the full impact of the hurt felt by individuals, their families and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”.

He said the club was committed to reconciliation and justice and needed to support past and current players and would “reach out to Robert to apologise personally”.

He added: “We must also acknowledge our mistakes, and take action to repair harm and ensure mistakes are never repeated.

“We have much to learn from Robert’s story and are committed to rebuilding his relationship with St Kilda and our game at his pace.”

The apology from St Kilda was posted on the official AFL website.

A statement from the AFL said the league would also be contacting Muir, adding there were “too many stories like this in our code and country’s history”.

The statement said: “We will be there to assist with a process of recovery and reconciliation and we also understand that there will be similar stories from our game’s past that we need to address.”