The AFL Players Association has criticised the league for its “flawed” process of investigating allegations of racism at Hawthorn, saying it could make people hesitant to report concerns in future.
In a statement the AFLPA’s chief executive, Paul Marsh, said it had “serious concerns about the AFL’s process” which was “not truly independent”.
“The allegations raised by players and their families as part of Hawthorn’s Binmada Report were extremely serious and disturbing in nature and required an independent, wide-ranging, well-resourced and culturally safe process,” Marsh said.
He said the issue “presents the industry with an urgent need to reflect on whether the right industry-wide reporting systems, commitments and levels of accountability exist to ensure this does not happen again”.
The AFLPA has proposed a human rights policy and framework to the league as part of ongoing collective bargaining agreement negotiations.
“Until this work is done, we hold considerable fears that players and other members of our industry who suffer racism, sexism or other forms of exclusion or discrimination will be hesitant to raise concerns or share their experiences,” Marsh said.
The Hawthorn president, Andy Gowers, has admitted that closing the investigation into alleged racism within the AFL club does not represent a “total resolution” of the matter, and said he hoped the league would not go on to sanction the club.
Gowers spoke to media on Wednesday morning, after the AFL revealed that an independent panel would make no adverse findings against the three former Hawthorn staff who were linked to the allegations: Alastair Clarkson, Chris Fagan and Jason Burt. All three have strongly denied any wrongdoing.
“The announcement last night by the AFL, in one sense, is a step towards a resolution, a broader resolution, but it’s only one part of it, because it only involves the players,” Gowers said.
“A final resolution will involve us, the AFL and also our former staff on top of that. So there’s mixed emotions. Because although it was a resolution for one or two parties in a sense, it’s not total resolution and we’re not able to move on completely.”
The AFL is still considering sanctions against Hawthorn for any potential breaches of AFL rules in relation to the allegations.
Gowers said that in a “perfect world” the club would not be sanctioned, with penalties including fines or the stripping of draft picks among the options reportedly being considered.
“We’re disappointed that this is the nature of the discussion. We went into this with the best of intentions. Where it ended up, no one is happy about. That’s clear,” he said.
“But the dialogue between all parties has not been able to happen to this point. We would welcome that and we think that that is an opportunity for people to be heard, to tell their truth and to heal, as I said before.”
Gowers expressed regret that the former First Nations players and staff had all been unable to speak to the club about their version of events. But he agreed with sentiments expressed multiple times by AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan on Tuesday night that the way in which the report was made public influenced the club’s ability to be able to do this properly.
“As Gil said last night, it was leaked and that blew everything up,” Gowers said.
In April 2022, the Age reported multiple concerns the former Hawk Cyril Rioli and his wife Shannyn Ah Sam-Rioli had regarding the player’s time at the club.
The club asked the former AFL player Phil Egan to investigate its history. The terms of reference, according to the report, included to “listen and learn from the experiences of players and staff”, understand whether any of these people needed ongoing support provided by the club, and review its current practices to ensure it had a supportive environment for players and coaches.
Egan then went about speaking to current and former First Nations players and staff, saying 23 people were identified and 17 were spoken to.
In August 2022, Egan completed the report, also known as the Binmada report, which outlined a series of serious allegations.
It is unclear when the report was provided to Hawthorn.
But in late September 2022, the ABC revealed details of the contents of the report, and separately spoke with the families of three First Nations players.
Gowers said on Wednesday that he did not know where the leak came from but that he was not aware of a suggestion it came from Hawthorn.
He conceded that it would have been “preferable” for the former coaches to have been spoken to, but that, under AFL rules, once the Egan report was received by the club it had to provide it to the AFL’s integrity unit.
Gowers also made clear he was aware that the matter was far from over, with the AFL-backed independent investigation already taking eight months and having not publicly released a report on its findings.
He would not be drawn on other possible consequences facing the club, apart from his comments regarding AFL sanctions, with civil court action and human rights complaints also reportedly being considered by former players.
