A footy fan has apologised for racist online posts directed at Crows player Izak Rankine which saw his Brisbane Lions membership torn up and Adelaide condemn the "disgusting" abuse.
On Sunday Lions fan Jakob Matheson made two social media posts to X (formerly known as Twitter) in response to Rankine's bump which concussed Brandon Starcevich during the round 17 match between the two clubs.
The posts, which have since been deleted along with his personal account, both included references to "the zoo".
On Monday, Matheson - described as an aspiring sports reporter, said he was "intoxicated and pissed off" at the time of the posts and is "extremely remorseful" for his words.
"I was a bit intoxicated and frustrated because he knocked out a Brisbane Lions player and I obviously wasn't thinking when I tweeted it," he told The Adelaide Advertiser.
"I know there is nothing I can do, I obviously wasn't thinking when I tweeted it.
"I'll make sure nothing like this ever happens again.
"I am extremely remorseful and solemnly apologise and will do better to educate myself in the future."
The fan also made a teary-eyed apology over video.
"I just wanted to…formally apologise to Izak himself. I never meant to say what I said," he said in a recorded video, via 7 News.
"I got frustrated and angry at what Izak did to one of the Brisbane players. And I know I shouldn't have said what I said and I regret that 100 per cent."
On Monday, the Lions confirmed they had cancelled a fan's membership immediately as a result of the abuse, which they said "do not reflect the values of our club or our players".
"Racism is unacceptable. There are no excuses," the club said in a statement.
"We condemn the social media comments made towards an Adelaide Crows player during the match last night."
The matter was referred to the AFL's Integrity Unit.
In their own statement, Adelaide said their club "strongly endorses" Brisbane's action, and said the situation was "even more disappointing given it is NAIDOC Week and a time at which we should be celebrating Indigenous culture rather than dealing with vilification".
The Crows said Rankine has been offered support.
Rankine was one of a number of Indigenous AFL players targeted with racial abuse amid a string of incidents in the early rounds of the 2023 season.
In May of last year, the AFL announced measures including lifetime bans from attending matches for people found to be responsible for vilification.
Rankine is also facing a month-long suspension for the bump on Starcevich.
On Tuesday Adelaide accepted the MRO's grading of rough conduct, but signalled they will fight to downgrade a separate grading of intentional conduct to careless at the tribunal.
"While Izak had no intention of making head high contact that resulted in the injury, it obviously did occur and that is not being contested," Crows head of football Adam Kelly said.
"We believe however that a careless grading is more befitting of the incident."
