The AFL's CEO has apologised to legendary small forward Eddie Betts over the governing bodies' mishandled investigation into Adelaide's 2018 pre-season camp.
It comes after calls from the Wirangu Kokatha Guburn man and other prominent identities involved in the code.
"They acknowledged (the pain). But the easiest thing to do is say sorry," he told Fox Footy.
In his upcoming autobiography, Betts details the harrowing experiences he and fellow teammates went through at a 'cult-like' camp designed to increase their aggression on the field.
He said he felt sick and ashamed after the camp appropriated First Nations cultural elements, and players were forced to scream obscenities at each other.
"Things were yelled at me that I had disclosed to the camp's 'counsellors' about my upbringing," he wrote.
"Another camp dude jumped on my back and started to berate me about my mother, something so deeply personal that I was absolutely shattered to hear it come out of his mouth."
A SafeWork SA investigation last year cleared Adelaide of breaching health and safety laws and an AFL investigation in October 2018 cleared the Crows of any industry rule breach.
But the AFL Players Association were left shocked by the new revelations and have decided to reopen an investigation.
On Thursday, AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan apologised to Betts on the Seven Network.
"Clearly we're sorry to Eddie and anyone who's (endured) suffering from that camp," he saod.
"We've seen today how much it hurt Eddie and frankly some of the stuff that went on was a disgrace.
"Clearly we're hearing him and hear his pain and we're sorry."
Empathy or cultural training for penance 'bullshit'
Meanwhile, Yorta Yorta rapper Briggs has called for stronger penalties if players and clubs were found to have racially vilified someone.
“Players found guilty of Racial vilification should be fined 100k. Clubs, 1M. Repeat offenders banned for life,” he wrote.
Briggs added that some of the current measures that have been taken by clubs when their players have discriminated against, including cultural or empathy training are "bullshit."
In a recent case, the Adelaide Crows' Taylor Walker was fined 20-thousand dollars and banned for six matches for directing a racial slur towards Robbie Young in a SANFL match a year ago. He was also required to undertake education training involving volunteering for community programs.
That incident came after the AFL released an update to its Rule 35 Vilification Rule that included a series of recommendations that would be adopted by community leagues.
The AFL has been contacted for comment.
