NSW: Aboriginal footballer awarded $25,000 for defamation =2

AAP General News (Australia)
12-03-1999
NSW: Aboriginal footballer awarded $25,000 for defamation =2

Mr Patten, now 25, was a passenger in his car in July 1991 in Eveleigh Street, Redfern,
when it was pulled over by police who were being filmed by an ABC TV crew making the documentary.

During one scene, an officer is heard to ask "Is he a coon?" - and Mr Patten was then
accused of owning a defective car.

Mr Patten told the jury that after the program aired he suffered taunts from spectators
at matches and was shunned by several clubs which viewed him as a troublemaker.

His reputation became such that he was forced to alter his appearance by dying his
hair blond, also altering his style of play in order to distract attention from the issue.

"When I first got into grade football and started playing first grade, people recognised
me and said 'he is the bloke the coppers hate at Redfern?'," he said.

The jury rejected two of the four meanings which the rugby league player claimed had
been conveyed in the documentary.

They did not agree that it implied he was known to the police as a law-breaker, or
that he was racially inferior.

AAP mss/sb/pjs/br

KEYWORD: PATTEN 2 SYDNEY

1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.