- Courtney Lee has lashed out after the match on Sunday
- She and her partner were walking towards the Australian Open.
The indigenous star girlfriend Maurice Rioli Junior has criticized a 'racist' man who affirms involved in the 'unpleasant behavior' by telling the couple 'Happy Australia Day' on January 26.
Courtney Lee and the Tigers player went to the Australian Open when they passed the man and his friends on Swan Street in Richmond.
“A group of people went with us with a man who said the words” Happy Australia Day “as if it were a normal greeting of good morning when he passed by a stranger,” he wrote on social networks.
'However, saying this to an indigenous Australian with direct visual contact, a head with an arrogant laugh to follow, knowing what he had just done is not normal.
'It took me a moment to realize what just happened, since I was on my phone trying to find our tennis tickets, however, for this point, the group and the man had walked below on Swan St.
'Surprised, he took everything not to turn around and say something. I am ashamed not to have reacted on the spot and call this unpleasant behavior.
Courtney Lee has lashed out after she and her boyfriend Maurice Rioli Jr (in the photo together) were subjected to what she says it was a racist attack in Melbourne on Australia's day
The couple (in the photo together) was heading to tennis in Melbourne Park when a man said 'Happy Australia Day' with a nod and a 'arrogant laugh' directed to Rioli
'I didn't know what to feel, especially for my partner.
'I don't know what makes me more frustrated. The comment towards us (Australia Day) of every day, or the act racism as a whole still occurs daily of whites.
'Insult an indigenous Australian when you live in their Appal lands (sic). I am quite disconsolate.
Lee said Rioli had to leave work early due to the incident.
Richmond currently participates in preseason training before his first game of the season against Carlton on March 13.
Rioli and his indigenous teammate of the Tigres, Marlion Pickett, were at the receptor end of the shocking racist abuse in August 2022.
Both stars were attacked by a user of social networks after Richmond's victory over Essendon, with the Tigers Club condemning the attacks.
Rioli (in the photo playing for the tigers) was also subjected to shameful racist attacks on social networks after a game in 2022
“Two Richmond players were subject to vile racist abuse,” the club said in a statement.
'The club condemns behavior in the stronger terms.
'The pathetic people who choose to behave in such a way must be called.
“The club has referred the matter to the integrity of the AFL that will now seek to identify the individual.”
Rioli and Pickett were supported by indigenous stars Eddie Betts and Liam Ryan.
Lee and Rioli have been together since the late 2023.
The Tigres striker is the son of Richmond Great and the member of the Hall of Fame Maurice Rioli Senior, who played 118 games for the club and created the story as the first indigenous player to win the Norm Smith medal as best in the I usually in a great VFL/AFL final.