Former Collingwood and North Melbourne forward Moana Hope has bravely spoken out about an “incredibly hurtful” homophobic message she received on social media from a recently retired AFLW player.
The 38-year-old, who has two children with ex-wife Isabella Carlstrom, revealed the abusive message was sent to her by accident by the individual – who she did not name.
The message was swiftly deleted, but not before Hope had screenshotted it and shared her feelings with her Instagram followers.
She said: “First of all, she didn’t mean to send it to me; she took my story that’s currently up and she was clearly trying to send it to somebody else, who’s probably also homophobic. And what she said was incredibly hurtful.
“And when I say hurtful, like, I have thick skin. I am well good within myself and where I stand, and I have no insecurities based on some strange person sending me a DM.
“However, I did not expect it. I mean, you sent it to me! That was stupid.
“And I responded to it; I was like, ‘Umm?’ And before I said umm, I screenshotted it. And the crazy thing is, she quickly then unsent it, but I had already screenshotted it.
“I ended up responding and being like, ‘First of all, you don’t follow me’ — she doesn’t follow me, so she’s gone onto my profile, gone into my stories, taken a photo, was forwarding it to somebody to have her homophobic, incredibly rude comment about me, and instead has sent it back to me by accident, and then she quickly tries to unsend it.
“And so I responded to her and I said, ‘Whatever you’re dealing with and whatever hurt has caused you to be so mean and a bully, is not welcome here. You don’t even follow me. And I hope you find your peace’. And then I blocked her.”
After confirming the woman who sent the message was heterosexual, Hope then urged them to come forward and inform her AFLW club.
This was before Hope discovered the person had recently retired from the sport.
She continued: “I know that if I outed her here for her homophobia and just straight-up f***** comments about me, I don’t know if she would be able to play AFLW again, or if she would be able to withstand the investigation process of such comments.
“And so, I’ve chosen not to disclose her name because I don’t want to carry that. It’s not for me.
“Whatever she’s dealing with, whatever hate she has towards gay people or me, it’s something that she needs to go away and deal with and I don’t want to be part of that.”
“People are saying she probably plays for a club that (has players who) are gay or part of the LGBTQI+ community, and I will tell you, she absolutely does.
“I know the club she plays for, I know the players she plays with, I’ve played with them before, I know them personally.
“So, I’m going to unblock her, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to send her this story, but I’m not going to say anything else.
“And I’m going to give her the opportunity to go into the club that she’s affiliated with, and she can tell them herself. And she’s got ‘til Friday to do that, and then internally they can work out a plan to get her the support, the community service, the courses, whatever it takes to educate her on that kind of hate and what that does to people.
“Because as much as I have thick skin, the next person may not.
“She has ‘til Friday to do that, and if she doesn’t, then we’ll revisit the whole not publicly outing her, because she needs to take responsibility.”
Hope later shared the picture that had accidentally been sent her, and addressed the importance of fighting against homophobia.
“I didn’t think homophobia had a place in AFLW, but apparently I was wrong,” she said. “A player and someone who is connected to a Victorian AFLW club thought it was appropriate to share this photo with a homophobic caption and laughing emojis.
“So in light of that behaviour, I figured I’d put it on the grid myself. If they’re going to share my photos, it might as well assist with my Instagram numbers and views.️
“On a serious note, I am reporting her. There is no place for homophobia in this world. If you want to know more, go check out my stories. Gay love is love and there nothing wrong with being gay and being exactly who you are.”
Hope played 13 times for Collingwood across two seasons, before she moved to North Melbourne in 2019 where she made seven appearances.
