Basketball ACT commit to racism report's recommendations

Basketball ACT has started to take action on the recommendations made by the report, that investigated alleged on-court racial vilification at a junior women's basketball match in July last year.

The investigation, which was carried out by a legal practitioner, found racial slurs were used during an under14s match against the Warriors, but it was unable to identify the person or persons responsible.

It recommended Basketball ACT engage the services of an expert in racial discrimination to review all process and programs "regarding the existence of any racial discrimination and, if appropriate, the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination".

Basketball ACT boss David Simpson said officials had already started to reach out to those "with the right skill set to undertake a review of all our documentation."

They also sent out the member protection policy to all clubs on Wednesday night with a note to confirm the investigation had concluded.

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The Warriors have agreed to support Basketball ACT in implementing the report's recommendations, with club president Dion Devow saying "we would like to see action around that kind of stuff, not just words or rhetoric."

They've offered advice and support for developing anti-racism campaigns, cultural awareness training and connecting with traditional owners of the area.

"We want to support Basketball ACT moving forward too, because if there's no proper action taken then this is going to continue to happen," Devow said.

"We're the smallest club in the competition, resources and time-wise we're fairly poor but we also have a lot of expertise in relation to connecting to the community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues and affairs. We're respected.

"We're happy to work with Basketball ACT to make sure these incidents are rare, or stamp it out altogether.

"That's the good thing about it, we can make some changes in the policies and so forth - having both the black and white communities making things better for the future, especially for our kids, our community and the sport."

Basketball ACT adopted the 'Racism. It Stops With Me' campaign in recent months and all clubs have joined it.

Anti-racism signage has been placed around the stadium to reinforce the message at all times.

"We'll be engaging with the basketball community beyond this," Simpson said.

"As disappointing as the incident was, the silver lining is that it's brought it to the surface and we can now really do something about it.

"There can be some real positives to come out of this, some cultural changes in the sport. We look forward to working with all our clubs to progress the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination within basketball."

Devow, whose daughter Sienna was part of the under14s team, said he proud of the players for taking a stance against racism and hopes it will make a difference in the future.

"We're relieved it's over. I'm happy the girls were vindicated in relation to what they heard," Devow said.

"I think the community, both black and white, has been really supportive of what's happened around this incident.

"Moving forward, it's good to put a full-stop there and move ahead, especially for the girls.

"That's the biggest thing for me - that the girls can stand tall, proud and move on. Just enjoy the sport and being part of the team without this ugliness hanging about."