Mr Storer’s teammate has told a judicial hearing an opposing player called him a “black coconut c--t’ during a game last month. 

Storer claims he heard the slur, and says it stopped him in his tracks.

“I didn’t even pick the ball up - I was shocked,” said Mr Storer, a Fijian international.

“I’m half Aboriginal, half Fijian and my whole career playing footy I’d never ever heard anything like it. 

“Because I didn’t touch the ball, the ref came running over and awarded the other team a scrum feed. 

“I told him what had happened and he’s turned around and said to me, ‘just go and fill a form out of the end of the game … play on’. He [the player] should have been sent off.” 

The player allegedly at the receiving end of the slur later left the field prematurely and in defiance of the referee, earning himself a 17-week suspension.

Details of the alleged slur were aired as part of Port’s successful appeal against that decision. The appeal included supporting statements from captain-coach Mr Storer and another Port player.

A Group Seven judicial hearing was then set to probe the Port player’s claim of vilification.

It went ahead on Thursday night, hearing “vehement” denials from the opposing player and teammates who supported his version of events.

Country Rugby League regional manager Kevin Felgate said there was insufficient evidence to convict the player.

“We’re not saying it did or didn’t happen,” he said. “We’re just saying we didn’t have enough evidence to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt, therefore if the judiciary would have convicted a player, we probably would have lost it on appeal.”

There is no suggestion that the referee heard the slur. 

But many in the Port camp – including club president Ben Fera – say the referee should have acted on the claims made by Mr Storer on-field. 

“The referee should have addressed the player then and there,” Mr Fera said. 

“He could have spoken to him and it could have been dropped … instead the referee penalised us because we stopped the game.”

Mr Storer said he held no ill-will to the opposing player but wanted to see group referees compelled to act on claims of racism.

“I’m not so much angry at the player. You can’t control the individual. You don’t know how that kid’s grown up. He could have been bullied by indigenous kids and, in the heat of the battle … the kid’s probably not a racist. 

“The big deal is the way it got handled.” 

The clean-living Mr Storer joined Port Kembla this season in a deliberate bid to help turn things around for the struggling Blacks, who experienced some brutal thumpings last season, the worst of them a 96-6 loss.

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