The NRL is investigating alleged racial abuse towards South Sydney duo Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker during the Rabbitohs' 28-14 loss to the Dragons at Jubilee Stadium on Saturday night.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the governing body was made aware of the allegations on Sunday afternoon.
"The NRL integrity unit is aware of the allegations. The NRL takes these allegations seriously and is looking into them as a matter of priority," an NRL spokesperson told the Herald.
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In a club statement released on Monday, South Sydney confirmed that "an allegation of racial vilification" had been raised by a spectator at the match.
"The Rabbitohs were informed of the incident by a member of the public as well as the NRL. The NRL has confirmed the NRL Integrity Unit is investigating the matter," the statement read.
"The Rabbitohs stand in condemnation of any form of racism in our sport, and society in general, and will support the NRL's investigation in any way possible."
The Herald obtained a copy of the email sent to the NRL by a member of the crowd.
"I attended the Dragons-Rabbitohs game, where the people sitting behind me were continually racist all game at Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker," the email read.
"They said, 'Latrell is like [Anthony] Mundine and the rest of them. A black w[h]inger that needs to learn to shut up'. Cody was then called a 'dirty dog' … After the fifth occasion, I called the man out when he said Latrell was a 'black bastard' and when I asked him to stop he said, 'Why should I, it's my opinion' and he continued to repeat it.
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"I then called security and he asked the man what he said. The man admitted to saying 'black bastard' and more. The security then said to me, 'So what, he didn't say it to you'. The man that was [making the comments] then proceeded to leave the ground and I begged the security guard to get his details off him before he left. The security guard refused and threatened to kick me out of the ground because I called him an 'idiot' for not doing anything."
The attendee then explained that they approached police present at the ground to report the abuse — concerned with the lack of action taken by the security guard.
"I ran to grab police, who looked for the man but couldn't find him," the email continued.
"They then spoke to the security guard who told police I was the antagoniser when all I was doing was calling out racism. I have a problem with the behaviour of the security guard and the person that was racist … The security guard blatantly ignored continued racism and took my details in order to consider having me banned from the ground because I wouldn't leave the racist remarks alone and wouldn't accept the fact he was allowing it to occur."
Earlier this year, Mitchell stood with Broncos youngster Ezra Mam after he was called a "monkey" by Roosters prop Spencer Leniu during the teams' round one meeting in Las Vegas.
Following a judiciary hearing, Leniu was suspended for eight games for using the racist slur but Mitchell called for the NRL to make an example of Leniu.
In several posts to his Instagram, Mitchell stated that the NRL "better deal with this shit".
During this time, Mitchell also teed off at Mundine over social media after the former boxer and league player claimed Leniu's comment was not racist.
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