A star player, his gay slur, Snoop Dogg and his controversial ban
The AFL has banned Adelaide Crows’ Izak Rankine for four games, after a drawn-out investigation process into a gay slur. The post A star player, his gay slur, Snoop Dogg and his controversial ban appeared first on Outsports.
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After an avalanche of allegations, apologies, excuses and opinions that have dominated the national conversation in Australia, the AFL has announced it has suspended one of its leading players for four games for use of a homophobic slur.
Adelaide Crows midfielder Izak Rankine has been pivotal to his team’s rise to the top of the standings, but the ban is likely to end his season.
It seems everyone has had their say, including the very few out LGBTQ people in men’s Aussie Rules — although they have struggled somewhat to be heard above all the noise. An out gay footballer in a regional league and the Crows’ LGBTQ supporters group are among those who deserve to be heard.
Rankine had looked set to receive a five-game ban, which was the punishment handed down to the last player heard using the “f****t” slur on the field of play in the AFL. The one before that, who self-reported the slur, received a four-game suspension.
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The Crows argued for a similar reduction in the sanction, and achieved a parity of success that could see their star man return for the AFL Grand Final.
In its statement, the AFL alluded to a mitigating factor of “compelling medical submissions” alongside Rankine’s co-operation, admission and profuse apology.
However, the pro league’s chief executive Andrew Dillon would not explain what those medical submissions were when asked by the media Thursday. 7NEWS Melbourne claimed mental health concerns were at the heart of the matter.
Rankine, 25, is the seventh AFL player or coach to be punished for homophobic language in the last two seasons. By any measure, it’s a staggering tally.
North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson was fined in March 2024, a month before Port Adelaide’s Jeremy Finlayson received a three-game suspension.
Then in April 2024, Wil Powell of Gold Coast Suns was banned for five games. Three months later, another AFL player, Lance Collard, was suspended for six games for multiple uses of homophobic slurs while playing in the second-tier VFL.
This year, West Coast Eagles’ Jack Graham received a four-game ban in July having self-reported an incident, and just a week later, Riak Andrew was suspended for five games for use of a homophobic slur while playing for Sydney Swans’ reserve team.
Izak Rankine debate attracts anti-gay comments on social media
Rankine admitted directing a slur at an unnamed opponent during the Crows’ victory over Collingwood last Saturday. The incident came to light the following day, with the AFL opening an investigation.
It was widely reported that Rankine used the word “f****t” to insult the opponent, whom he called Sunday to apologize. There were claims that the Crows star might have been triggered or somehow provoked due to previous incidents with Collingwood players.
In recent days, comment and speculation have filled Australian airwaves and the wider media, as the Crows prepare for a weekend match in which a win would see them finish the league phase as leaders, otherwise known as the minor premiership.
Besides the now-familiar arguments of how long the suspension should be, considering the player’s remorse and whether precedents have been set, there have been added ingredients due to the timing of the offense.
Those expressing sympathy for the Crows because the playoffs are looming have mostly been given short shrift. Of course, the news has also brought out plenty of vocal keyboard warriors expressing anti-gay views, while columnists working for right-wing publications have been quick to vent.
An unusual element has involved Snoop Dogg, who the AFL is reportedly paying around $2m AUS to perform in front of 100,000 fans at next month’s Grand Final in Melbourne. The same “f****t” slur has featured in the lyrics of several songs in Snoop’s back catalogue, leading to accusations of hypocrisy.
Dillon brushed these off Thursday, insisting “our entertainment on Grand Final day will be family friendly” before citing the rapper’s credentials as “a grandfather and philanthropist.”
The Crows’ LGBTQ supporters group Rainbow Crows has issued a statement about the Rankine incident, arguing that inclusion training and education should be mandatory for all AFL clubs, and that their own is “yet to participate.”
Meanwhile, several academics, campaigners and AFL fans who are LGBTQ have attempted to bring the matter back to the cause and effect of homophobic language.
Gay footballer discusses the ‘only way to educate people’
A particularly insightful contribution has come from Mike O’Donnell, who plays for Eastern Suburbs Bulldogs in a regional Sydney league.
He’s been out as gay in his team for around 10 years and spoke to gay broadcaster Andrew Bucklow for a “From the Newsroom” podcast episode.
O’Donnell likened an AFL team environment to “an extension of high school” which made it more conducive to homophobic language than LGBTQ representation.
He explained: “A lot of them [the players] have gone to all-boys schools because they’re private school kids.
“They then go into an environment where they’re with 45 people who are around the same age as them. They get told what to do. They hang out with these guys week in, week out.
“And the idea of you not conforming to the norms of that, I think there’s an enormous pressure around that which can hold people back.”
His view is supported by the fact that the AFL is the only major men’s pro team sports league in the world in which a gay or bi player has never come out publicly, either while active or after retiring from the sport.
Asked what might need to happen to change that, O’Donnell said: “My hope is that there will be a young draftee that comes through, because my experience having gone into a club as the only openly gay male player is over the years, I’ve had people come to me and tell me how the whole environment’s changed around me because I’ve been there.
“And that’s what you want to see within the AFL.”
The Rankine punishment being drawn out creates another day of media and vile social media comments. That’s what young kids are reading.
I recognise everyone deserves due process, but the extended process helps nobody – especially young LGBTQ+ people.
Parameters were set.— Michael O'Donnell (@TheMikeOD) August 20, 2025
O’Donnell believes there must be gay and bi players within the AFL who are out to friends and family, and possibly some teammates, but do not feel comfortable coming out in the sport publicly.
The use of homophobic taunts in the heat of battle and the intense media debate surrounding incidents such as that involving Rankine will play into their concerns.
It will take the courage of one or more individuals to help change that, added O’Donnell, in tandem with players going outside of their AFL bubble and getting to know people in the LGBTQ community.
“The only way to educate people, I think, is to have people around them who are gay, whether it’s family members, whether it’s teammates, whether it’s friends,” he said.
“But because they’ve grown up in this sort of microcosm of society where it’s hanging around with the boys, in a really ultra-masculine environment, a lot of them just haven’t come across gay people — and that’s going to really make it difficult for any education purposes.”
At Thursday’s media conference, Crows chief executive Tim Silvers said sorry to LGBTQ fans, while Dillon insisted that AFL culture is not intrinsically homophobic.
“I don’t want this to happen again. I don’t think footy is an unsafe place, but we have to continue to make this environment safer and more inclusive,” he said.
However, at this rate, it would be a surprise if Dillon isn’t repeating the same line to the media at some point soon.
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The post A star player, his gay slur, Snoop Dogg and his controversial ban appeared first on Outsports.
