Anna Harrington, AAP
St Kilda youngster Lance Collard is being investigated by the AFL for allegedly directing homophobic slurs towards opponents in a Victorian Football League game.
First-year player Collard, who has played three senior games since he was drafted by St Kilda at pick number 28 last year, is the third AFL player to be accused of homophobia this season.
The 19-year-old forward allegedly directed homophobic abuse towards multiple Williamstown opponents when playing for St Kilda’s VFL affiliate Sandringham on Saturday.
“The league is aware of a matter from Saturday’s match between Williamstown and Sandringham and the AFL integrity unit are now investigating,” a VFL spokesperson said.
The AFL wouldn’t confirm Collard was the player being investigated.
St Kilda confirmed they were aware of the incident, but declined to make any further comment.
A lengthy suspension seemingly looms for Collard.
In May, Gold Coast defender Wil Powell was suspended for five games for directing a homophobic slur towards a Brisbane opponent.
Port Adelaide’s Jeremy Finlayson was suspended for three games in April, and required to complete Pride in Sport training, for his homophobic verbal abuse of an Essendon player.
North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson was fined $20,000 and received a suspended two-game ban for his pre-season tirade towards St Kilda duo Jimmy Webster and Dougal Howard.
Clarkson was also required to complete Pride in Sport training.
After the Finlayson incident, Ian Roberts, Australian sport’s most prominent gay rights advocate, called for the AFL to introduce more educational programs for players and officials.
“The governing bodies need to get out there at the grass-roots level and make it very clear that language like this can be so powerful,” the openly gay rugby league great told AAP in April.
“There’ll be young people out there who are struggling with their sexual identity that probably wouldn’t have heard many news items during the last couple of weeks, but they definitely heard that one.
“I do believe our best sword and shield in moving forward is education – I’ve been saying it for 30 years.
“There should be educational programs at the start of every year, or through the year, about this.”
