The Melbourne Demons Football Club is taking a new approach to stamping out online bullying.
A number of the club's football players feature in a video designed to disempower messages of hate, by showing the players tearing up hateful tweets that have been directed at them.
The torn up messages used in the video will be taped together to create the pre-game banner that the Demons will run through this Friday night at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) when they play against the Essendon Bombers.
The video has been produced in partnership with the youth organisation, Reach Foundation, founded by late Melbourne football legend Jason Stynes and Zurich.
The campaign 'Let's Tear Online Bullying Down' is fundraising in support of the one in five young Australians who face online bullying.
Melbourne Coach Simon Goodwin said he's proud of his club.
“To go out and fight online bullying is something that I’m incredibly proud of," he said.
"It’s a prominent issue in our society today.”
So far this year, two of the AFL’s top Indigenous players, the Adelaide Crows, Eddie Betts and West Coast Eagles, Liam Ryan have been targeted with vile online racial abuse.
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