AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon has defended the league’s handling of the one-match ban given to Port Adelaide forward Willie Rioli, saying the decision changed only after further incidents came to light and that the league did not bow to media pressure.
The ban followed a threatening message concerning Western Bulldogs defender Bailey Dale, AAP reported, and Rioli served it in the Showdown against Adelaide on 10 May 2025. Port Adelaide accepted the sanction but said he has endured racist abuse throughout his career, and Dillon said the AFL cannot fix racism by itself.
The Sanction
The AFL handed Rioli a one-match ban and education on “respectful/non-violent language and conduct” over the threatening message concerning Dale, AAP reported.
He had initially been cleared over the message, but the league reopened the case when further on-field verbal incidents involving Geelong and Essendon players emerged.
The sanction was handed down on 8 May 2025, two days before the Showdown against Adelaide, and Rioli served it in that match on 10 May. He was expected to return for Port Adelaide against Geelong on 17 May.
The Showdown is the South Australian derby between Port Adelaide and Adelaide, the league’s two clubs in the state.
Dillon Defends the Process
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon defended the league’s handling of the case, saying the first decision had been taken without knowledge of the earlier incidents and that the second decision followed from the fuller picture.
“We made the decision earlier in the week without knowledge of the previous incidents,” Dillon said. “When all that information came to light, the different decision was laid down looking at it all in totality.”
He said the league had not responded to criticism from the media: “We don’t react to media criticism. If we did that, we would be changing our mind every single day.”
On racism, he said “that is something the AFL can’t fix by itself” and “it’s an all-of-industry approach that we are going to need”.
He framed the response as one that would need to come from across the industry rather than from the league alone.
He said he had not spoken to Rioli directly but had spoken with senior people at the club. “I hope he is going OK, and I know he is getting support from the players’ association and Port Adelaide,” Dillon said.
His comments came after the ban had been served and before Rioli’s expected return to face Geelong. On Dillon’s account, it was the further incidents rather than the coverage that changed the outcome.
The Club’s Case
Port Adelaide accepted the ban but said Rioli “has endured racist abuse both directly and casually throughout his career”, describing it as “a persistent, ongoing reality” rather than a series of isolated incidents.
The club said on-field comments that “may not seem racial on the surface, can be interpreted as racist” by a player who has heard such remarks throughout his life.
Port Adelaide had written to the league a month earlier, warning that framing racist abuse as reactive rather than endemic undermined the AFL’s stated commitment, AAP reported. The club’s position links the conduct that led to the sanction with the abuse the club says Rioli has faced.
The club’s football boss, Chris Davies, said on 3AW that the abuse was constant: “Willie Rioli gets racially abused almost every day, when he does something good or bad in people’s eyes.”
The Apology and the Showdown
Rioli withdrew from the Showdown and apologised to Dale, privately on the Monday and publicly on the Thursday, AAP reported.
In the public apology, he said his actions after the Bulldogs game were “totally unacceptable” and that he needed to “take a break”.
He sat out the Showdown under the suspension, and he was expected back against Geelong the following week.
The Round and What Comes Next
Dillon spoke at the launch of the Sir Doug Nicholls Round in Darwin, the league’s annual Indigenous round, which recognises Indigenous players and their place in the game.
Brisbane’s Callum Ah Chee said he hoped the desire to learn about Indigenous cultures would last longer than a single round.
“If we can do a lot more outside of Indigenous round, that would be great,” Ah Chee said, adding that players should not be “waiting until Indigenous Round to learn about it”.
Rioli was expected to return against Geelong on 17 May. Dillon said the AFL cannot fix racism by itself, and that the league would need an approach involving the whole industry.
The ban has been served and the apology has been made, and Rioli is due back for Port Adelaide against Geelong. The wider issue the club raised, about the abuse it says runs through his career, remains with a league that says it cannot solve the problem alone.
Related: AFL Caps Contact Training in Biggest Concussion Shift Yet
Sources: The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/may/13/afl-andrew-dillon-willie-rioli-racism; AFL.com.au, https://www.afl.com.au/news/1320607; SBS News (AAP), https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/port-adelaide-power-say-racism-is-persistent-after-afl-bans-rioli/9bkxlahmy; 3AW, https://www.3aw.com.au/port-adelaide-football-boss-reveals-fresh-information-on-nature-of-willie-rioli-abuse/; Nine, https://www.nine.com.au/sport/afl/news-2025-andrew-dillon-responds-willie-rioli-saga-port-adelaide-return-20250513-p5lyy9.html
