As the AFL prepares to celebrate the Indigenous round, a club-based report given to league chiefs has found that while the attitudes of players have improved, there is still "a racism issue treading under the surface".

The comprehensive study, conducted over three years by lead investigator Dr Sean Gorman, of Curtin University, and Dr Dean Lusher, of Swinburne University, with the aid of the Australian Research Council, examined Indigenous and multicultural diversity and masculinity through interviews and questionnaires of AFL players.

"The report shows that all the AFL players and coaches interviewed understand that player-to-player vilification is unacceptable. The vast majority of the players and coaches were able to critically engage with issues of direct vilification and definitely saw it as a thing of the past," it said.

"This is a testament of the commitment of the AFL and the AFLPA to provide regular education to the players around these issues, the quality of that education and also the continued efforts by the AFL and the AFLPA to promote issues around social justice and equity more broadly."

But Lusher told Fairfax Media there was work that still needed to be done in improving standards.

"There is still a racism issue treading under the surface," he said.

Gorman said it was imperative clubs continued to improve the welfare and education of its players.

The report, given to the AFL's research board, states "numerous players still could not identify what casual racism (or homophobia or sexism) is and when it does manifest what should their reaction be".

"Further to this was the players' general lack of understanding of historic social movements, such as reconciliation and multiculturalism. Given that the AFL has major themed rounds based around these two concepts, the Indigenous round and the multicultural round, it seems strange that the answers relating to reconciliation and multiculturalism were not better understood.

"Another feature of this report is that Indigenous players felt more marginalised from their clubs than their non-Indigenous teammates. This was evident from the data that Indigenous players are often, though not always, seen as occupying the social margins of the club."

One player said: "Like us Indigenous boys, we barely go out that much and if we do, we might have a beer, or have a beer with ourselves because … we don't want to be getting stereotyped. We're the ones doing this and the ones stuffing up. We're actually here on time, we're doing all the right things that everyone else is doing. But we slip up once, we're the ones that are judged on it. No one else is."

The report also analysed the pressures Indigenous players felt from their own extended families.

One player said: "[They say] nah, nah, nah, he's all right, he's made it, he's done good with himself … which is pretty shit because it means anybody who hasn't made it to AFL [is a] no hoper [even] before they've met them. Yeah it is hard because, obviously, people recognise who I am and treat me differently because of that."

AFL spokesman Patrick Keane said the league would "continue to speak out against vilification in all forms, and always seek to make the environment around our game as welcoming as possible".

"In the week of Indigenous round, it is 20 years since the AFL introduced a formal vilification policy, which has been expanded in time to cover religious vilification, as well as sexual identity," he said.

"Our game wants to be seen, but also to be more importantly, a place where everyone is welcome to be part of the sport. The road is probably still going to be a long one but we are totally committed to ensuring our approach remains the same."

This weekend's Dreamtime at the 'G match is also a time to reflect on the powerful statement Nicky Winmar made at Victoria Park in 1993 when, standing near the Collingwood cheer squad, he lifted his guernsey and pointed to his bare skin and declared: "I'm black – and I'm proud to be black!"

It was a moment Lusher and Gorman said "has transcended the realm of sport and football is because it was socially, culturally and politically important; it tapped into a national discussion that needed to be had".

"Winmar's defiant reply to the hostile Collingwood crowd in 1993 is so powerful – it is the image that helped start the conversation around racism in sport."

Two years later under the guidance of then AFL chief Ross Oakley, the AFL introduced rule 30 - discrimination and racial and religious vilification – into the AFL player rules, signalling its intent to stamp out religious and racial vilification. That rule is now rule 35 in the AFL player rules.

"The implementation of rule 35 in 1995 has arguably been the single biggest act of reconciliation by any sporting code in Australian history," the report states.