EVERY AFL club captain has come together to use their powerful voices in the AFL's new anti-vilification campaign for local footy, as the league continues to ensure Australian football is a game for all.

The campaign aims to reinforce the AFL's zero-tolerance stance on racism and vilification across all levels of football, as well as emphasise the tools, resources and support available to help combat and manage vilification in local footy.

Launching across the play.afl website and AFL Play social media platforms, the campaign features the visceral reactions of the club captains as they hear real life examples of targeted discrimination in local footy.

From Brisbane co-captain Lachie Neale voicing that the language shown "made his heart hurt" to West Coast Eagles co-captain Liam Duggan saying it "sent shivers" down his spine to hear those words being said goes to the core of campaign – vilification has no place in our game and if you don’t get the message, you're the one who’s not welcome at the footy.

As part of the rollout to accompany the thought-provoking campaign, local players, coaches, volunteers, umpires, parents, leagues and associations will all receive bespoke communication to aid their understanding of vilification, including information on how to support victims, report incidents, and help raise awareness of the AFL’s zero-tolerance policy.

AFL Executive General Manager of Game Development Rob Auld said it was imperative that everyone involved in community football understood the AFL’s zero-tolerance approach to vilification as well as their role, rights and process around reporting vilification.

"The AFL takes a zero-tolerance approach to vilification in our game across all levels of football and this campaign targeting local footy is vital to ensure everyone knows their rights, responsibility and the resources available when it comes to reporting and resolving vilification," Auld said.

"We have processes in place and easily accessible resources at play.afl for players, coaches, umpires, parents, volunteers, leagues and associations to help manage any vilification incidents that occur.

"We know vilification has no place in our game, but we also need to ensure that if cases do arise, we have the most thorough and robust process to help support, educate and resolve the incident.

"Since 2020 significant work has been undertaken by a number of teams at the AFL across Inclusion and Social Policy, Integrity and Game Development to make sure we are supporting our community in the best way possible, which was part of the review of the AFL’s anti-vilification policy – now called the Peek Rule.

"We believe this work and the recommendations that have been implemented are having an important impact. There is a growing awareness at community level of how seriously we take these matters, and that players will most likely be banned from playing if they engage in vilification.

"To have all 18 AFL club captains be part of this new campaign to describe how discriminatory language made them feel will hopefully resonate with the community and reinforces our message that discrimination has no place in our game. We will also capture content for this campaign with our AFLW captains across their season."

Hawthorn AFL player and proud Yorta Yorta man Jarman Impey reflected on his own experience with vilification while playing community football and the importance of having processes in place to report incidents and support victims.

"I remember playing for my local team in Shepparton and being vilified over the fence. I was a very young individual and that just made me feel very sad and like I was on an island, however, I was lucky that I had access to friends, teammates and coaches to support me,” Impey said.

"I think the number one thing is support and care, but I think when you do hear these things you can be unsure on what to do, so to have these guidelines and protocols in place I think that is going to benefit not just that club but the community too."

The campaign forms part of the work the AFL is doing to stamp out racism and vilification across all levels of Australian football. Since the review of the AFL’s anti-vilification policy in 2020 – which is now called the Peek Rule – significant progress has been made, with the majority of the 43 recommendations now implemented.

These actions have included:

• Creating and distributing anti-racism and anti-vilification education resources for both elite and community football players, coaches, officials and other participants.
• Increased awareness of ways to report racism and vilification at all levels of the game to the AFL – either through the AFL’s online portal, or direct to Leagues who must inform the AFL of every incident.
• Assisting in management and resolution of community football vilification complaints including appointment of conciliators, and expert tribunal members.
• In 2022, the appointment of an Indigenous Player Development Manager to every AFL club was mandated by the AFL, to assist cultural change and support emotional and social wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players in all and AFLW teams.
• Formal relationship with e-Safety Commissioner to assist in addressing online racism against players.