By Brett Lackey For Daily Mail Australia
Published: 06:06 GMT, 26 March 2019 | Updated: 06:07 GMT, 26 March 2019
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AFL star Liam Ryan has taken to social media to urge people to educate themselves on the history of racism after vile remarks were directed at him online.
The West Coast player was called a 'monkey' in the comments section of a 7AFL post to Instagram about an on-field incident he was involved in during Saturday's match against Brisbane.
The issue made headlines after teammate Nic Naitanui called out the comments on his Twitter account on Sunday night, posting screenshots and asking 'when will it end?'
AFL star Liam Ryan (pictured with partner) has taken to social media to urge people to educate themselves on the history of racism after racist remarks were directed at him online
The West Coast player was called a 'monkey' in the comments section of a 7AFL post to Instagram about a late strike in Saturday's match against Brisbane
Ryan's Instagram post attempts to give a brief explanation of why the term 'monkey' is so offensive to Indigenous people.
'Educate yourself why we take this word seriously,' the post read.
'When European explorers and settlers encountered Aboriginal people from the 1600s-1800s they often said that Aboriginal people were not humans but were actually animals - like apes or monkeys.
'Such ideas not only justified European superiority, but also