“A few of the girls chuckled about it, and then another teammate approached my friend and me, offering us bananas with the comment, ‘Here, take these.’ That was the final straw,” she recounted.

Fowler made her move to Montpellier in 2020 as a teenager of 17, where she played for almost three years before transitioning to Manchester City in 2022.

“This isn’t an isolated issue in France; it’s a global problem. It’s happening right here in Australia as well,” she emphasized.

Akec Makur Chuot, a former AFLW player, expressed her admiration for Mary Fowler’s courage in discussing her alleged encounters with racism. Source: AAP / Joel Carrett

Chuot was drafted by Fremantle in the 2016 AFLW draft, making her debut in 2017. She later joined Carlton, Richmond and Hawthorn, playing 40 games across six seasons before announcing her retirement in 2023.

“They’ve just decided it’s better for their mental health and physical health.”

“It’s a great example of what needs to be done. It’s amazing to talk about these issues, which faces a lot of young sportspeople at the moment.”