The former Victory defender said people need to be able to forgive if the spectator is remorseful. He added that he is on good terms with the player.

“It’s a bit ironic, he got banned and not long after we were together in a Socceroos camp training together and having dinner at the same table," he said. "You need to be able to move on.

“I’d say hi to him if I saw him. I saw him last year at an A-League event and he was one of the guest speakers and in that event he spoke about his troubles during his career and his demons.

"At the time, I had no idea what he was going through.

Young has called for the fan to be educated

“That for me is a perfect example, someone lashes out and says something similar, but you don’t know what this guy is going through or history is.

"The way Jamie Young handled himself in the media was superb and he was talking about educating people, so they know what it means to be on the receiving end and hopefully it doesn’t happen again.

“We look at what the guy has done and you can’t just hammer him because he’s made a mistake, there has to be a second chance for him and see how he goes from there.

“For all we know, soccer could be his only outlet and to ban someone for life from something they love… he could be going through depression or he could get it, who knows?

“I’m not condoning what he said because it’s terrible, and I’m also not saying the player who did it to me should’ve got longer.

“We’re all human beings and we all make mistakes. Footballers have made mistakes on the field like using bad language when there are kids around.

"To really hammer someone, by giving him a life ban instead of letting him redeem himself, would be devastating.

“I’m sure he’ll cop a ban of some sort, but it’s a bit full-on to be talking about life bans.”

Vargas also said he was happy with how racism is now treated after experiencing it as a child.

“I remember growing up with my parents in Melbourne, my first language was Spanish and I used to catch the tram with my mum and this was before I played soccer,” he said.

“We’d be speaking Spanish and we’d have people on the tram looking at us and saying, ‘Speak English, you’re in Australia’. We’ve come a long way in 30 years.”