AFLW star Tayla Harris urges AFL to take action on social media trolls

Tayla Harris makes an extraordinary offer to the AFL in a bid to stop trolls leaving sexist and racist comments on social media

  • Tayla Harris was bombarded with abuse after a photo of her kicking went viral
  • The AFLW star has now called on the league to monitor social media comments 
  • Harris offered to give up her wage for the AFL to employ someone to block trolls

Tayla Harris, who was bombarded with vile abuse after a photo of her kicking for goal went viral, has made an extraordinary offer to the AFL in a bid stamp out sexist and racist comments on social media.

The Carlton player offered to give up her wage for the AFL to employ someone to monitor comments posted online and subsequently block trolls.

The 22-year-old was captured in a photo showing off her athletic prowess as she drop punted a ball during a match against the Western Bulldogs last year. 

But after the photo ‘The Kick’ circulated, Harris was subjected to a hundreds of crude remarks. 

After the photo ‘The Kick’ circulated, Harris was subjected to a series of sexual remarks so severe she dubbed them as ‘sexual abuse’

The moment captured by Michael Wilson was eventually immortalised into a bronze statue in Melbourne’s Federation Square.

On Friday, Harris urged the AFL to ‘fight back’.

‘How about the AFL and other pages start actually blocking people who comment discriminative, racist, homophobic, sexist etc comments. If you can’t control your urge to bully and harass you don’t deserve the privilege to share your unwarranted opinion,’ she tweeted.

Harris urged the league to take action against bullying, saying it can lead to suicide.

‘God damn I’ll give up my AFLW wage to employ someone to monitor this, public bullying is a ripple effect to young people in schools and communities that lead to mental health issues and suicide,’ she wrote.

Through a series of tweets, Harris called for the AFL to employ someone to monitor social media comments

Through a series of tweets, Harris called for the AFL to employ someone to monitor social media comments 

‘AFL be the leader in this space. Employ someone dedicated to this. Ignoring these comments is not a solution. Fight back.’

Last week Harris made headlines when she was labelled ‘useless’ by Collingwood defender Stacey Livingstone in an interview after her side beat Carlton.

‘You’ve just got to stop her in the air – that’s her game. If you can that, she’s useless,’ she said. 

Livingstone has since said that she could have chosen her words better. 

In the wake of the comments, Harris said that she ‘didn’t care in the first place and doesn’t care now’ and that she accepted Livingstone’s apology, which she said was made ‘really quickly.’ 

Harris was Carlton’s leading goalkicker for the 2018 and 2019 seasons and was named twice in the AFLW All-Australian team.

Tayla Harris said she would offer her wage for the AFL to employ someone to monitor social media for trolls

Tayla Harris said she would offer her wage for the AFL to employ someone to monitor social media for trolls

 

  

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