There were some memorable moments and inspiring individual performances in the AFL over the weekend.

First, Melbourne coach Dean Bailey’s emotional outpouring after his team’s 33-point upset victory over Essendon. Then came Cyril Rioli’s brilliant five-goal effort for Hawthorn during its 22-point win against Fremantle. And finally North Melbourne’s Andrew Swallow, who gathered a career-high 39 disposals and 18 clearances, against Adelaide on Sunday.

However all of those great moments – which always make the game a pleasure to watch – were overshadowed by one sickening incident. It wasn’t a cheap king-hit behind the ball or another serious knee injury to an unlucky player.

It was a demeaning and embarrassing taunt from a rogue supporter.

North Melbourne rookie Majak Daw was racially abused at TEAC Oval on Saturday while playing for Werribee against Port Melbourne in the VFL. The incident occurred during the first quarter of the match as the athletic ruckman roamed near the boundary line.

Daw, the AFL’s first ever Sudanese-born recruit, was ill-treated by the male spectator, who was ejected from the ground at half-time.

The 20-year-old was understandably affected by the incident. He later admitted it was ‘quite a shock’ and had scarred him for the remainder of the game, hence his substandard performance.

That stuff really does make you shake your head. No one, absolutely no one, deserves to be treated like how Daw was.

It’s pathetic for a spectator to revert to racism to put a player down. Sure, be passionate, have a go at a player’s questionable kicking style and boo them because they left the club you support for another one at the end of the previous season.

But to vilify someone’s ethnicity is damn low.  In fact, the lowest one could swoop.

Unfortunately for the AFL and its players, Saturday afternoon’s incident wasn’t the first time a player has been racially maligned in 2011. In fact the league has investigated a number of reports this season, where fans have racially attacked players at different levels of footy.

The most well-known incident occurred in Round 4, when Hawthorn superstar Lance Franklin was called a ‘black c—‘ as part of a constant racial barrage during the Hawks’ close win over West Coast. In a brave act, Franklin came out and confirmed the comments himself in an attempt to set an example for the rest of the AFL community.

Unfortunately, the message didn’t get through to some.

Brisbane triple premiership player Chris Johnson was taunted while playing for Avondale Heights during a suburban match in April. A spectator labelled Johnson a ‘black monkey’ and said he should be ‘eating bananas’.

Then, Port Adelaide forward Daniel Motlop revealed the abuse he and teammate Danyle Pearce copped while playing for North Adelaide in the SANFL in May, saying it was ‘the worst’ he ever received in his career. The 29-year-old revealed he was concerned the next generation of football fans would continue to racially abuse players, after seeing it at local levels of footy today.

Liam Jurrah was also the target of racist taunts in the pre-season. The high-flying forward was taunted with sickening language during Melbourne’s NAB Challenge match against Hawthorn in Launceston.

This behaviour needs to stop.

And the solution? Punishment.

Anyone who yells out racist comments during a match needs to be punished. Whether it’s a temporary ban, a permanent ban or even an educational session on multiculturalism, something needs to be done in order to get the message across.

You feel sorry for indigenous ex-players such as Jimmy Krakouer, Nicky Winmar and Michael Long, who had to cope with this kind of behaviour almost every weekend during the 1980s and 1990s. Yes, racial vilification is far less common nowadays and only a small proportion of fans partake in it. But with an alarming amount of incidents this year, there needs to be actions taken to ensure racism is completely stamped out.

Our game would be completely different without indigenous and multicultural players. Imagine Sydney without Adam Goodes, Hawthorn without Franklin, Collingwood without Harry O’Brien or West Coast without Nic Naitanui. These guys bring so much flair and entertainment to the game – something that needs to be celebrated, not criticised.

If recent comments continue to be voiced in the presence of children and adolescents at suburban games of football, then our future indigenous and multicultural players are in strife.

Young indigenous and multicultural people will start to shy away from joining local clubs. If they see players like Daw and Franklin copping racial abuse at a professional level, then there’s little chance they’ll want to participate at community level.

There’s no room for racial abuse in footy – at any level. There’s no room for racial abuse. Full stop.

We’re not living in the 1970s anymore. There is only one human race.

Ben Waterworth is a third-year Bachelor of Journalism student at La Trobe University and is upstart’s sports editor. You can follow him on Twitter: @bjwaterworth