Female AFL creators say vile comments ‘just one example of what we deal with’

On Wednesday night, a video circulated quickly across social media of a group of men recording a podcast, laughing about how one of them would “beat the f***” out of a group of female content creators.

Those creators are known as The Carlton Besties, a Blues fan page on Instagram and TikTok with more than 30,000 followers across platforms.

On a live-recorded episode, the Carlton fan podcast The Jumper Punch (TJP) hosts were discussing a hypothetical charity boxing match for Blues content creators.

In the clip, one of the hosts Rocco Stagnitti said: “I’d punch the f*** out of The Besties.”

The other three men appearing on the episode erupted in laughter, with one adding: “There you go, Respects Round mate right there, Respects Round mate.”

The Respects Round is Carlton’s initiative to promote gender equality and highlight the problem of violence against women.

Tori Saros, one of the four women who make up the female-led Besties, was surprised but not shocked by the comments from TJP.

She said it was a reflection of how women were still viewed by some men in footy spaces.

“When this came up, we thought, ‘Enough is enough’,” Saros told ABC Sport.

“It’s disgusting but this is just one example of what we deal with as female creators and what we are sure others experience, too.

“It means we are just still not there. We’ve been doing this for four years now and although some progress has been made it feels like every time we finally take a step forward we take another two steps back.”

Stagnitti has since apologised on TJP’s Instagram after first addressing the clip on the live-recording as just “being taken out of context”.

He told ABC Sport he felt sick about what he said.

After reflecting on his comments, Stagnitti regretted what he said and knew it was the wrong thing.

“I am against violence against women and know it is a big issue,” Stagnitti said. 

“I’m against violence against anyone to be honest.”

On Instagram Stagnitti said he did not make this comment with any intention of wanting to really punch anyone.

“Although my intentions were not malicious, I completely acknowledge that what I said promotes the wrong message and made many feeling uncomfortable,” he said.

“This is a position I would never want to put anyone in, but more importantly women. For that, I am sorry and I apologise to anyone who was affected by my comments.”

Keisha White, a prominent Fremantle supporter on X, told ABC Sport the whole ordeal left her feeling disgusted.

“The thing that angers me the most is how they acknowledged Carlton Respects right after they made an abhorrent comment about fellow female content creators,” White said.

“It’s all a joke to them. The fact that women are unable to simply exist in a space is a huge indictment of the state of the community at the moment unfortunately.”

Carlton is investigating the four men involved in TJP clip with the membership department looking into whether they are members, according to Code Sports.

This comes as fans online have called for the Blues to take the matter seriously.

One of those is Melbourne-based footy fan Jackson Wheatley, who told ABC Sport he hoped the club would find the men and ban them from attending future games.

“You can’t seriously be holding games like Carlton Respects and then actively ignore this bullshit behaviour,” he said.

Carlton has been contacted for comment.

Saros said the club had been really amazing in getting The Besties involved with the club, including with the Respects program.

But she hoped the moment would reach the wider AFL community.

“This situation is just another example of the message still not being heard … women and girls just want to feel safe at the footy and enjoy the sport as much as the next person,” Saros said, adding the support following TJP’s clip was overwhelming.

“We are just glad our voices are being heard and that it’s reaching the necessary parties for action to be taken.”

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