The AFL faces another week attempting to stop anti-Muslim groups from attending games after another offensive banner was erected during Saturday night’s western derby at Domain Stadium. A banner reading “Go WCE, Stop the Mosques” was briefly erected at halftime in West Coast’s 33-point win over Fremantle.
Security and venue staff quickly removed the banner while four people were evicted from the ground and issued with banning notices. The incident comes just over a week after a similar anti-Muslim banner was unfurled during Collingwood’s win over Richmond at the MCG. That banner read “Go Pies! Stop the Mosques”.
An image of the West Coast banner soon surfaced on social media on Saturday night and showed it to be an almost identical replica of the Collingwood banner.
The far-right group United Patriots Front has claimed responsibility for both banners. The group posted a series of videos on its Facebook page after unfurling the banner at Domain Stadium on Saturday night. In one video, a group member called Oz is shown smiling to the camera as he is led away by police in handcuffs.
Both the AFL and West Australian Football Commission (WAFC) condemned the group’s antics. Just last week, AFL boss Gillon McLachlan said he would not tolerate groups trying to use the game to vilify sections of the community.
“We will be working with police and the AFL to ban these people from returning to Domain Stadium,” WAFC acting chief executive Gavin Taylor said. “This type of behaviour is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
AFL spokesman Patrick Keane took to Twitter on Saturday night to condemn the behaviour of the four fans responsible for the banner. “The group was immediately evicted by security staff once it attempted to display an offensive banner,” Keane said. “The views do not represent our game in our any way & AFL would ask media & public not to give the group the publicity they are craving.”
