NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo has fronted the media in response to alleged racial abuse hurled toward South Sydney fullback Latrell Mitchell on Thursday night.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Abdo reiterated Rabbitohs' coach Jason Demetriou's stance of racism has no place in the game.

Abdo said it is rugby league's "vision" to eradicate these types of episodes from the sport, and that each individual incident in breach of this will be thoroughly investigated and dealt with accordingly.

"It is absolutely abhorrent that we have a situation where we have players subjected to any form of vilification or abuse, whether it be racial abuse, or any form of vilification is completely unacceptable," he said.

In his post-match press conference on Thursday, Demetriou called for life bans on anyone who crosses the line on abusing behaviour.

The league boss was unwilling to go as far as setting this standard.

It is understood Thursday night's incident involved a teenage fan while Rabbitohs and Penrith Panthers players exited the field at halftime.

Abdo was unwilling to comment on the specifics of what occurred but confirmed the matter is being investigated by the NRL's integrity unit and that matters occurring at NRL are under the jurisdiction of the league amongst other authorities.

"Every situation needs to be dealt with based on the facts," he said.

"I'm not going to jump to what the potential actual sanction is because it's very much based on the circumstances and the facts.

"It's been less than 24 hours and we need to let the integrity unit and the authorities do their job and get all the information."

"Sometimes matters are very delicate and so we need to think innovatively around what we do to make sure that we actually genuinely are making a difference.

"We haven't hesitated in the past where we have information to act on it and to enforce bans on fans on participants on those inside the game."

Abdo said he does not believe there is a systemic problem within the game, but rather isolated incidents.

He chose not to comment on if Mitchell has personally campaigned for the fan at the centre of the allegations to be handed a particular level of consequence but did confirm he had reached out to the 25-year-old.

Earlier on Friday rumours surfaced Mitchell could exit the game prematurely as a result of racially-fueled abuse subjected to him.

Abdo said it would be "incredibly disappointing" but believes that is a long way away.

"Let's be honest, these types of things hurt," Abdo said.

"Latrell is a human being and comments like this affect us whether or not we want to admit that. But he knows that the game stands behind him."

"And I think he's gaining a lot of strength from the support that he has from everyone inside the game."

Abdo went on to champion Mitchell as a leader within his community and the game, which he admits can also be a "heavy burden" and responsibility.

He said examples of continued racial abuse can be used to educate people going forward and was "extremely proud" to be a part of a society largely tolerant of people's differences after growing up in a nation divided like South Africa.

"Our game will continue to have passionate fans who will make the views clear whether they're cheering or whether they are booing," he said.

"But when people step out of the line and bring other things into it in this particular case, racial vilification, that line cannot be crossed."

Abdo commended both South Sydney and Penrith for their immediate response to Thursday nights disappointing scenes and rallying around Mitchell.