Eddie Betts' disturbing claim about racial vilification in AFL

Eddie Betts is tired of being racially abused and has told the AFL Players Association he has been vilified during every year of his storied career.

The football community has rallied behind Betts after the latest in a long and constant line of racially-motivated attacks directed at the veteran forward.

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Essendon are investigating a social media post from the weekend that depicted the 33-year-old Carlton star as a monkey, with the tweet originating from a Bombers supporter's account.

AFLPA boss Paul Marsh said Betts was growing tired of the persistent derogatory attacks, but the former Adelaide livewire remained determined to call out the appalling behaviour.

One of the AFL's greatest small forwards, Betts has played 317 games over 16 seasons in a career which began in 2005.

"(We) have built a strong relationship over a period of time and unfortunately a lot of it has come off the back of these type of issues," Marsh told SEN.

"He's pretty sad about the whole thing; I think he's just sick of it that it continues to happen.

"He said to me yesterday that there hadn't been a year in his career where he hasn't had some form of racial vilification thrown at him.

"The majority of our indigenous players have been vilified in some way shape or form whether that be within football or outside of football.

"We've got to get better.

Racist attack comes amid Black Lives Matter support

"They deserve to be able to go to work, play football and enjoy it like everyone else.

"This stuff is draining, personal and really hurtful."

The offensive post came to light on the same weekend that AFL teams showed their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Players wore black T-shirts during their warm-ups, while coaches joined them by taking a knee before the bounce during round two games.

Marsh said it was vital all AFL players continued showing strength on racial matters, not just indigenous stars.

"The non-indigenous players really need to start carrying a greater weight in dealing with these issues," he said.

"I think the indigenous players feel like they've carried this weight up until now; it's now on all of this to do something about it."

Carlton co-captain Sam Docherty said "being silent hasn't worked" and players had to do more.

"As an industry and as a footy club we've got to stand behind our indigenous players and make a stand," he told reporters on Monday.