Collingwood Football Club CEO, Gary Pert announced today that the membership of one of its long term supporters has been cancelled indefinitely due to a racial vilification incident which occurred during the Gold Coast game on the weekend.
 
The club received a complaint from one of its own players, Dale Thomas, immediately after the game stating that a Collingwood supporter racially vilified his opponent, Joel Wilkinson, during the last quarter of the game.
 
This claim was supported by a large number of emails and telephone calls from Collingwood supporters who were deeply offended by the comments and formally complained to the club. As part of these complaints the club was supplied with specific details of the offender’s seat number and a clear description of the individual which allowed the club to identify and remove the culprit from the club’s membership.
 
The offending member took full responsibility for his comments and actions and has agreed to write letters of apology to those directly affected.
 
Collingwood Football Club CEO, Gary Pert said: “On behalf of the entire Collingwood Football Club I want to publically apologise to Joel for what he experienced during the match against Collingwood on Sunday evening.
 
“It is important that Joel knows that the behaviour of one Collingwood supporter is not a reflection of the views of the broader Collingwood community. I hope Joel is heartened by the strong leadership position that Dale Thomas took, which was supported by the crowd that witnessed the incident and then, ultimately, the football club itself.”