Then, another member of the group depicted a playeras a KKK member burning the two other players, in blackface, on a cross. This post has more than 500 likes. According to their Facebook profiles, some of the creators of these memes are or were previously members of suburban football clubs. The profiles of those who liked the posts reveals a host of photos of young men, often teens, sporting AFL guernseys, in football team group shots, or posing with AFL players. The use of content that is shocking or offensive, with individuals competing to push the boundaries further with each new iteration of a meme, is a common online phenomenon. The AFL has been contacted for comment, and provided with screenshots from the group.

On Tuesday, the league suspended the Richmond club membership of the person responsible for a racist online comment directed towards West Coast Eagles player Liam Ryan. Dr Brady Robards, a senior lecturer in sociology at Monash University who studies young people’s online behaviour, said people heavily engaged in meme-sharing are often seeking attention. “There's something in it about going to more and more extremes in order to get a reaction, to get a response,” said Dr Robards. “Sometimes maybe if challenged on these beliefs and opinions and this kind of language people might back down, say they were just doing it to get a laugh, so maybe they don’t hold the beliefs very firmly. “But the fact that they’re reproducing this language and making these kinds of racist memes or sharing these kind of posts works to support these kind of perspectives.”

This in turn can convince others in the group who did not hold those beliefs that they are the norm, he said. In a group with many young members, this can be a particular problem. In standard “shitposting” form, racist, sexist, and homophobic content in this group are interspersed with benign posts about McDonald's toy footballs - affectionately known as “foopy” and unofficially the mascot of the group - and daily reminders that the West Coast Eagles are the defending AFL premiers. Everything is topped with a thick layer of irony, blurring the line between jokes and malicious intent. The satirical nature of these kinds of groups can be used to insulate them against criticism, said Dr Robards. “A lot of people say, when their racist or misogynistic or homophobic or transphobic language is called out, they accuse the people calling them out of not taking a joke or not getting the humour. “That’s a way people try to normalise their language and try and make light of it.”

While this practice is not new, social media accelerates “the speed that memes or jokes are responded to, with something that pushes the envelope further,” said Luke Heemsbergen, a lecturer in communications at Deakin University. In this group, criticisms themselves become subsumed into memes. One member who made a post calling out the group for being racist, sexist and homophobic, and stated they would report the group to the police, had their post duplicated by hundreds of other members, in an act colloquially known as “copypasta” - making a meme of a post by simply copying and pasting it in other contexts. It is difficult to gauge how much hate speech is going on out of site as opposed to in publicly visible forums, according to Dr Robards. However, he said: “In the research that I’ve done people talk a lot more about using platforms like Facebook increasingly for group chats, closed groups.” Loading The hidden nature of this content makes it difficult to regulate, he said. “Social platforms like Facebook rely on other members of the group to flag that content as inappropriate.

“A lot of people are reluctant to do that because they don't want to upset the apple cart, they don't want to be kicked out, they don't want to be seen as a snitch, and I think we really need to challenge that particular attitude in Australia.” Actions to show this type of behaviour is not acceptable, like the AFL suspending the membership of the individual who directed a racist comment at Liam Ryan and players continuing to call out derogatory comments will contribute to positive social change, he said.