Dual Brownlow medallist Adam Goodes said the AFL are winning the war on racism but have not eradicated the issue.
Goodes, who is set to return from injury for Sydney against Geelong on Friday night, spoke candidly about the fight against discrimination on Wednesday's edition of Fox Footy's Open Mike program.
The Swans co-captain said while racial vilification is slowly being stamped out of the game, the battle is ongoing.
"The players we have involved in the game, where these players are coming from and the roles that indigenous players are playing in AFL football, we are definitely winning the war," Goodes said.
"The war is never going to end because we're getting players from all over the country so education is a massive part of that.
"We've come a long way really quickly, but still some people haven't caught up yet."
Goodes, a member of the 2005 indigenous team of the century, said he was called a 'black monkey-looking c...' by a high-profile AFL player aged 22.
The player, who has never been publicly identified, apologised following a phone conversation with Goodes when the incident took place in 2002.
"I needed to tell him how I was feeling," Goodes said.
"I thought you know what, this is really unacceptable. I don't want people to get away with this. I want this to be the last thing that anyone says to me.
"I've got no doubt he would ever say anything like that ever again.
"He might have grown up having never met an Aboriginal person before.
"We still have a lot of ignorance out there, but some players just haven't been in touch with indigenous people and don't know how things make us feel."
The 2005 premiership player uses education seminars to encourage all indigenous players to report any discrimination.
"What we say to the boys to stamp it out, we've got to put our hand up," Goodes said.
"It's already hard enough that we move away from home, move away from our communities.
"Here you've finally made it, you've made it to the AFL and it happens again. You just think when is this ever going to end?"
Goodes has been out with a quadriceps injury since Round 6 but is expected to face the Cats at the SCG.