A former Aussie rules legend is at the centre of a furore after calling Aboriginal players 'cannibals'.
Former player Mal Brown branded himself 'a d***head' yesterday, but said he is only sorry his comments made front page news and insisted: 'I am not a racist.'
He said his remarks at a rugby lunch about not being able to pick black players because he could not see them in the light were meant to be a joke. And his cannibal reference was simply a term of endearment.
'I just thought it was a fun function. I had no idea it was going to be reported,' said Mr Brown.
He said he had used those sort of comments '5,000 times in the last five years'.
His comments have been roundly condemned by the Australian Football League and today Brown made an apology of sorts when he spoke on local radio.
He said that during the lunch on Wednesday former players were taking the mickey out of each other and he made some remarks 'which weren't as funny as I thought'.
He added that he grew up with Aborigines in Western Australia and played football with them.
He said his comments, referring to the early days of the E.J. Whitten Legends matches, were meant to reflect what happened 15 years ago and not what happens in 2010.
Brown, who played 14 games with the Tigers in 1974, said the term 'cannibal' or the expression 'little black b****r' were used as terms of endearment.
'There was never any racism, or they were treated worse than anybody else - they were treated exactly the same as everybody else by me because they were given a fair go,' Brown said.
'All you eastern states people, you think you can solve the problem by just giving them money over the years.
'The most important thing is like bringing up your children, you've got to put in time... my life has been about putting in time and being friends with them all my life.'
He said that, while his comments were meant to be in jest, 'sensitive people told me it wasn't humorous and I made a d***head of myself and I accept that'.
'I'm not a racist, I've helped Aboriginal boys and grown up with them all my life,' he said.
'I'm happy for the Aboriginal people to judge me when I die for what I have done, not for what I've said.'
However, AFL chief Andrew Demetriou said he was shocked that such comments were still made.
'"There is no place for racial vilification,' he said. 'We are very strong on that.'
Brown's inflammatory comments came just days after racist slurs led to New South Wales state assistant coach Andrew Johns standing down after he caused winger Timana Tahu to walk out of the state side.
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