For the professional athletes competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), anti-discrimination education is mandatory, reinforced annually and supported by stiff sanctions for transgressors.
Such guardrails have proved powerless to stop a growing number of players making homophobic slurs in the top flight of Australian Rules football.
Adelaide Crows forward Izak Rankine on Thursday became the sixth AFL player since April 2024 to be suspended for directing a homophobic slur at an opponent in a match last Saturday.
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