Indigenous AFL icon Eddie Betts has issued a classy response on social media to a man who tore down a ‘Yes’ referendum poster from outside his Melbourne home. Betts, who publicly backed the ‘Yes’ campaign in the lead-up to the referendum, took to Instagram to share a video of the man responsible for the act.
The now-deleted footage shows the culprit parking his use before leaving his vehicle and approaching Betts’ home. The man can then be seen removing the ‘Yes’ banner from Betts’ fence and carrying it back to his car.
The post was met with support from Betts’ followers, with Australian supermodel Megan Gale describing the deed as ‘disgusting beyond words’. The Carlton and Adelaide great was one of many sporting stars to endorse the ‘Yes’ campaign.
‘You can spend your time doing things that matter now, that’s what I’m doing. ‘You took away the kids’ voices and now you’ve taken their YES sign if you want to catch up to return it, let me know.’
‘I know the Voice won’t fix everything overnight but I feel like it’s the opening of a pathway to make sure we are included and respected in decision-making on issues that impact us,’ Betts said earlier in the year.
In 2022, Betts revealed how he felt like he did not belong in Australia after he was ejected from a public swimming pool with his children because of their skin colour. ‘Well it keeps happening, we have grown up with this stuff,’ he told Fox Sports. ‘It’s not just in the AFL system, it is all of these systems.
After kicking 640 AFL goals during 17 entertaining years in the league, Betts has turned his attention in recent years toward being a spokesperson for Indigenous peoples across Australia.‘I find myself being followed by security guards in the shop. This year alone I was at a pool and the lifeguard came up to me and told me that I needed to get out of the pool.
‘That just made me feel like I don’t belong here in Australia, because these issues keep occurring. ‘My wife keeps driving it into me and keeps telling me that “out of anyone, you should feel like you belong here because this is your country and you should never feel like that”. ‘But because I keep facing these issues, I don’t feel like I belong.’
‘I was holding my kid, my baby in my hand and my two twins were swimming around and I found out that two old white elderly couple told the lifeguard to tell me to get out of the pool because I was making their grandchild uncomfortable.
