The controversy has prompted calls for club members to undergo cultural-awareness training and for the AFL to consider docking match points for poor fan behaviour.
Former Indigenous footballer Jason Mifsud knows well the accumulative pain of being targeted for abuse on the sporting field.
"It conjures up a whole range of incredibly hurtful emotions and experiences in many of our own lives."
Now an adviser to the AFL on Indigenous issues, he says he also believes more can be done by clubs when they recruit members.
"With technology these days and online education and training services, there could be a 10- to 15-minute cultural-awareness program that they go through. I think there needs to be more direct consequence on match day, by way of consequence on scoreboards or match points."
A-F-L chief Gillon McLachlan is dealing with the fallout from the banana thrown by a spectator at the Adelaide Crows' Indigenous forward Eddie Betts on Saturday night.
He is convinced it was a racist act.
"What happened on the weekend was unambiguously racist, and we are clearly disappointed with that."
The AFL Players' Indigenous Advisory Board has applauded Port Adelaide's immediate suspension of the woman's membership, as well as other fans criticising the abuse.
The board says, while the passion of fans is something to be welcomed, a line has clearly been crossed.
In a statement, it says: "Eddie Betts is one of the most popular players in the game, and his 250th match should have been a time for celebration."
It continues, "The AFL industry is taking great strides to ensure Aussie Rules is a game for everyone but this serves as a reminder that more work needs to be done."
Indefinitely barred from Port Adelaide's games, the banana thrower has expressed regret and accepted the club's offer of cultural-awareness training.
The club's Aboriginal Affairs program manager, Paul Vandenberg, runs those and says it is the right course of action.
"There's no use banning someone for life and not giving them the opportunity to be educated, and that's what all of our programs have always been about."
A man claiming to be the 27-year-old's father has jumped to his daughter's defence on Adelaide radio.
(Father:) "Don't demonise this human being, because I know what she's like. You don't know what she's like. The thing that irritates me probably the most is that we're playing the racist card here."
(Interviewer:) "What do you mean by that? She threw a banana at an Aboriginal man."
(Father:) "No, it was more an act of frustration."
