A SUDANESE-born footballer has been suspended after reacting to a racial taunt.
Bacchus Marsh ruckman Abraham Kur said someone abused him from the sidelines moments before he weighed into an on-field melee following a semi-final match, the Herald Sun reports.
"Someone from the crowd said 'control that black c---'," said Kur, 18.
The under-18s team had lost the game against North Ballarat when the fight erupted.
Mr Kur said he had stepped in to break up the scuffle before reacting to the gibe. He was suspended for three weeks for striking at a tribunal hearing on Tuesday night.
Ballarat Football League CEO Rod Ward said a VCFL investigations officer had been appointed to investigate the brawl, but found no one guilty of vilifying Kur.
"Based on his evidence, he was only able to determine one or two players may have been guilty of striking, and one of them was suspended earlier," Mr Ward said.
But teammate Blake Luscott, 17, said he had also heard the over-the-fence sledge before someone who was on the field yelled "nigger".
"It upset me, mate. I was trying to see who it was as much as he was," Blake said.
Coach Doug Hawkins said the poisonous comments had marred the end of an outstanding game.
"This racial stuff, that sort of crap went out the door years ago," Hawkins said.
"It's not tolerated. You don't go there - a young man who's come from Sudan, he's trying to find his feet. His mum passed away a few months ago."
Full story, Herald Sun.
