Eddie’s attitude today didn’t surprise me one iota.
He is, and has been for over two decades now, part of that abhorrent cabal of AFL heavy hitters and administrators of the game such as Demitriou, Gil, Fitzpatrick that have terrorised the fabric of game since they all came into power around 2002/03.
These prixxx have presided over many of the game’s biggest scandals ever such as the Fark Carlton salary cap, Melbourne tanking scandal, Eagles and Ben Cousins drug scandal, St Kilda schoolgirl scandal, our own drug scandal, various Collingwood betting scandals and many other scandals inbetwwen too.
Every time something has cropped up their MO has always been to double down, distance themselves from said scandal, look to find a scapegoat, bully anyone that questions their integrity and actions (or lack of) and put a massive spin on events contrary to what is happening at any given time. This is all done in the name of brand protection and most importantly, protecting their financials.
These people have created a toxic culture throughout their tenure of which they know that they can get away with much like the very best/worst of corporate cowboys and white collar criminals the world has seen.
The tactics that they use these days are straight from the handbook of the worst that we see from politicians and the corporate world day in, day out.
Nothing surprises me about the way these types behave in modern times.
That’s why I believe absolutely fark all will come of this. Gil and his mates will look after Eddie here because he is one of them. After all, they owe him one after the way he came to their rescue when the AFL needed him the most during the Saga and taking Sarah’s call on his now defunct morning radio show.
I hope the fat carnt sweats a chin or two off over the next few weeks through all the stress but I’m not holding my breath over it.
Do you realise that the background of that image says EAT $OON?
The last thing Eddie needs to do is eat soon!
can we somehow get eddie working on the metro and/or westgate tunnels? if he digs in at the rate he did today then we could have both projects finished by july-august
Wellingham’s Mum has hit the nail on the head - All AFL clubs would have similar issues with racism and the like, though probably not as bad as Collingwood.
There would be little sponsorship in the world of sport if companies closely followed the actions of supporters.
OMG.
Have brought the game into disrepute through systematic and ongoing racism over decades.
AFL must ask for a new broom, Eddie and CEO must go.
Board must be renewed
Club needs internal processes to be developed to educate them.
…however AFL will find no problems.
Carry on.
As you were.
Nothing to see here.
James Hird.
I’m not sure how it all works, but when Lumumba’s case is heard, does that mean Buckley and McGuire will be subpoenaed to give evidence to address his claims?
Would have to be.
As if it gets anywhere
AFL already aligning with Pies in not admitting anything.
Will assume based on past AFL modus operandi it’ll be settled out of court.
Oh he’s just monkeying around!
Quality post!!
Heritier Lumumba slams Collingwood’s response to racism report
Chris Cavanagh and Olivia Jenkins
Footy star Heritier Lumumba has slammed Collingwood’s response to a scathing report which found there was “systemic racism” at the club.
President Eddie McGuire claimed on Monday the emergence of the report’s detail — revealed in the Herald Sun — was “a day of pride” for the Magpies, proving their commitment to tackling the issue.
A defiant McGuire declared “we’re not a racist club” and disputed many of the review’s findings.
But in a series of late night tweets, former player Lumumba — whose claims of racial vilification sparked the probe — labelled the club’s response as “bizarre”.
Heritier Lumumba with then Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Collingwood president Eddie McGuire in 2012.
“I’m grateful to all the people who have reached out to me in support — including CFC members and supporters — as well as all those who have challenged the Collingwood Football Club’s bizarre response to their own report finding them guilty of systemic racism,” he said.
“It was painful to watch the club dig itself deeper into delusion and dishonesty at today’s press conference.
“Eddie McGuire’s inability to let go of the illusion he’s constructed of himself does not serve the club, the code, or the community.
“It’s a pity his final year looks like it will be marked by yet another self-inflicted racism scandal.
“The report clearly states that during Eddie’s tenure as CFC president, the club’s racism resulted in “profound and enduring harm” to many individuals, families, & communities.
“It was disturbing to see how easily Eddie and the CFC board members reduced the severity of this ‘profound and enduring harm’ to mere ‘mishaps’ — as if they were talking about spilling tea on a couch rather than being found guilty of years of systemic racism.
“I’ll be speaking to media (Tuesday) to break down the lies and deception, as well as answering questions about the report’s findings.”
Federal member for Wills Peter Khalil.
Heritier Lumumba during his time at Melbourne.
Lumumba on Tuesday morning shared posts from “one eyed Collingwood supporter”, federal MP Peter Khalil, who said he had barracked for the Pies since meeting Peter Daicos at a Preston fish and chip shop in 1978.
“But I haven’t been so blind as to not notice racism and racist remarks that have permeated the club,” Mr Khalil said.
He said his support for Collingwood was “tinged with deep discomfort” when he witnessed the racist abuse hurled by Pies supporters and experienced by “my hero Peter Daicos and more recently Heritier Lumumba”.
“Racist remarks were rife in the ‘80s when I used to watch footy at Vic Park,” he said.
“On the occasions I ventured to call it out, I was treated like an alien, patronised, or worse had the bile re-directed at me.
“And of course when I played junior and amateur footy I copped the sprays regularly and directly during pretty much every game I was on the receiving end copping vile racist abuse.”
McGuire has stared down calls for his resignation after the leaking of the secret “Do Better” review, which found “systemic racism within the Collingwood Football Club”.
It comes as the lawyer for Lumumba said the report was a “watershed moment” for the club and the AFL.
Rhea Dhillon — who is Special Counsel for law firm Phi Finney McDonald — said Lumumba felt “vindicated” by the findings of Collingwood’s ‘Do Better’ report and the future of his legal proceedings would be determined by what the Magpies and the AFL do next.
Lumumba launched legal action with the Supreme Court of Victoria against Collingwood and the AFL last October, claiming that he was racially abused during his career with the Magpies and both organisations failed to provide him a safe working environment.
“This is a pretty watershed moment, not only for the club but for the AFL,” Dhillon told News Corp Australia .
“Now with it all out in the open, suffice to say it entirely vindicates our client’s claims. He has been saying these things for the past seven years and he is feeling pretty vindicated by the findings in the report.
“We were waiting and seeing what the report would be and now we’re waiting to see what their response is to it. That could alleviate the need for legal proceedings or we might still have to consider our options, depending on what course they (Collingwood) propose to take.”
Dhillon said Lumumba had been consistent in his desire for an “acknowledgment of wrongdoing and an apology” from Collingwood, as well as “compensation for the damage done”.
ROBBO: EDDIE MUST STAND DOWN TODAY
The 2010 premiership player, who is now based in Los Angeles, chose not to be interviewed as part of the report but did request a copy of it in December, which was denied by the Magpies.
“He had reason to be sceptical about participation in the report because, as the report states, Collingwood has a tendency to treat things as a PR exercise rather than a serious allegation and doubled-down and denied his allegations and has discredited him publicly,” Dhillon said.
“So he was very reluctant to be subjected to that again.
“He’s been very vocal. He hasn’t held back. His record of events is available on Twitter, so I don’t think that he felt that it was necessary to repeat that process. I think he found that it would be fairly self-evident and I think that Dr (Larissa) Behrendt’s report shows that that is the case.”
Collingwood suspended two members last July over offensive social media comments directed towards forward Jordan De Goey.
The comments came after De Goey had returned to the playing field after being charged with sexual assault following an alleged 2015 incident.
Dhillon said this action was not consistent with how Collingwood had treated Lumumba.
“Collingwood’s stance there was pretty clear in that they said their membership would only be reinstated once the fans had acknowledged their own wrongdoing, apologised for that and demonstrated an understanding of the hurt they caused to the player,” Dhillon said.
“If that’s the standard they hold their members to, it’s certainly the standard they should be holding themselves to.”
Mark Robinson: Eddie McGuire must resign over Collingwood racism today | Herald Sun
A historic and proud day, hey?
What a bamboozling response after revelations were made public of abombshell report that found Collingwood and its Eddie McGuire-led board oversaw systemic racism.
Monday’s 55-minute press conference was positive spin layered upon positive spin in a one-team competition of backslapping.
McGuire had the opportunity to make the honourable decision and relinquish the presidency.
He didn’t.
He has vowed to make Collingwood better, all the while being one of the reasons why Collingwood needed — and asked for, it must be said — the independent review in the first place.
He should have opened the press conference with a sincere apology, spoken about the shame and embarrassment of this “historic day’’ and accepted individual responsibility for his role, minor or major, in where the Collingwood Football Club finds itself.
And then stood down immediately.
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Eddie McGuire must step down now as Collingwood president. Picture: AAP Images
Not at the end of the season, as he planned, but yesterday.
Once again, he did not raise his hand and accept he has been central to — and influential in — the systemic racism the review clearly believes abounded at Collingwood.
The report took aim at the board time and time again, and for that McGuire has to take responsibility.
Instead, he wants to fix the problem. He wants to right the wrongs.
There were mentions of mistakes and “mishaps’’ in the past, but they were quickly incinerated in McGuire’s telling by the gloriousness of what’s being addressed at the club now, such as “mechanisms and processes and systems and applications’’.
The club’s heart was in a good place, he said.
Still, it was a moment when McGuire could have given the club clean air. For he has polluted it several times.
Should Eddie McGuire step down as Collingwood president immediately?
The independent report, which the Herald Sun revealed on Monday, did not say so categorically, but left no one in doubt that it found an unhealthy level of responsibility lay at the feet of the president.
“There is a culture of individuals, if not quite being bigger than the club, then at least having an unhealthy degree of influence over club culture,’’ the report said.
This comment was made not on the basis of Heritier Lumumba’s accusations of racism, nor his legal proceedings as the report noted that Lumumba did not engage with its authors.
No, this was about everything else, including the casual racism of which McGuire is repeatedly guilty.
The jokes. The laughs. About King Kong and falafels. And about how McGuire never meant to be offensive, all while being offensive.
Boom boom is now ka-boom.
Monday was a damning, damaging and shameful day for McGuire and Collingwood.
The Pies attempted to spin it in their favour by declaring it a day for humanity and saying they would lead the charge in the fight against racism. But the spin could not outweigh the realities of the past.
McGuire has presided over some of the period — which extended back well before his tenure — that will forever stain the football club.
The independent review found the club and some of its individuals racist.
Even McGuire, who is sharp on his feet, could not dispute the findings, although one comment by him was corrected by chief executive Mark Anderson.
As has become common, any negative media about Collingwood, coach Nathan Buckley or the president is met with customary McGuire bullying.
He often dismisses it as “sensationalism’’ or “clickbait’’ or “bias’’ without addressing the issue.
Monday’s revelations were not clickbait. They were a wounding truth and its scars are indelible.
The review found “systemic racism within the Collingwood Football Club that must be addressed if things are to change”.
The 35-page report reads like a First Landing document you’d find at the Melbourne museum.
“Racism at the club has resulted in profound and enduring harm to First Nations and African players,’’ it said. “The racism affected them, their communities, and set dangerous norms for the public.’’
The AFL is not without blame, either.
When the Adam Goodes gag about King Kong exploded, the AFL did not punish or even widely condemn McGuire.
The AFL will suspend fans for boofhead behaviour, but is reluctant to be as heavy-handed with its highest office holders at club land.
Look at the AFL’s response to Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett’s racial jab at the aisle walkers at Marvel Stadium in June 2019.
No punishment. No charges of bringing the game into disrepute.
The commission, and chief executive Gillon McLachlan, have to ask themselves: Did we do enough to stamp out this casual, unacceptable racism?
The timing of McGuire’s decision to stand down as president is curious.
The 2021 season was meant to be Eddie McGuire’s last as president. Picture: AAP Images
In February 2020, he was reappointed for three years. Ten months later, on December 14, he announced he would stand down at the end of 2021. On December 17, Collingwood received the independent report.
Oddly, his announcement on December 14 included the revelation he had planned to stand down “earlier in the year’’. Only months after being reappointed?
Did McGuire jump knowing what the review would conclude?
He said on Monday he did not, stressing he was determined to implement the review’s recommendations and that he had, eek, full support at the board table.
When calls for McGuire to step down were made during the club’s controversial salary cap “fire sale” late last year, the president, in his final days working at Triple M, said in part Collingwood was his priority.
“If the day comes where I’m not wanted at Collingwood, don’t worry, I’m not going to be the one being dragged out the door,’’ he said.
“I am there as a servant of a club that I love and a servant to football.
“And that’s what I’m there for.’’
At 33, McGuire was a meteor-like arrival as president on a raucous night at Camberwell Civic Centre. It was October 29, 1998, and he was Trump-like with his fervour and self belief.
McGuire turns 57 this year and he will leave the role with many, many ticks, but also with a litany of errors.
He will depart being the figurehead of a club found to be systemically racist.
Monday could have been the “historic” day when McGuire accepted responsibility for what had occurred at the club under his watch.
It was the day to stand aside.
ANALYSIS
Collingwood racism report findings a vindication for Héritier Lumumba and others who paid price for speaking up
Posted 2hhours ago
Eddie McGuire said the release of the report into systematic racism was “a historic and proud day”.(AAP: Luis Ascui)
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Friday December 11, 2020. It loomed as a landmark day in AFL history.
The board members of the Collingwood Football Club met and took possession of Do Better, an independent review of the club’s responses to incidents of racism and cultural safety in the workplace.
For Collingwood, it was a day of reckoning that had been decades in the making, but it was triggered only in recent years, thanks to 2010 premiership star Héritier Lumumba making public his experiences of racism.
From the outset, the club had been clear: The report would be made public, the Pies had entered a new phase of transparency and anti-racism, they were bravely subjecting themselves to an honest and unflinching appraisal of their culture and people.
And yet, for seven weeks … nothing. Barely a peep. First there were denials that it even existed, then denials that Eddie McGuire’s resignation of the club presidency on December 14 related in any way to what professors Larissa Behrendt and Lindon Coombes had written.
Eddie McGuire will leave the Collingwood presidency at the end of 2021.(AAP: Luis Ascui)
Instead, the landmark date is February 1, when the report landed with both a thud and an inescapable sense of irony: a scathing document that urged Collingwood to be “pro-active, not reactive” in its approach to its racist history had to be leaked by the media to be addressed.
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Mostly, it will be remembered as the day a flustered and red-faced McGuire powered through a Giulianiesque monologue of deflections, denials and delusion. Four Seasons Total Mansplaining.
Flanked by Collingwood CEO Mark Anderson and board member Jodie Sizer, McGuire set a bizarre tone by saying it was a “historic and proud day” that his club’s shameful history had been confirmed.
From there he reverted to type, griping at the leak and whining that those questioning Collingwood’s behaviour were “tearing down institutions” and “trying to have a gotcha moment”.
Incidents of racism were minimised by McGuire as “mishaps” and “some issues along the journey”.
Of the report’s crystal-clear exposure of systemic racism at Collingwood, McGuire bizarrely said: “It was not systemic racism as such, we just didn’t have the processes in place, as we look back now, to do the job we’d like to have done in 2021.”
At that point, board member Peter Murphy felt compelled to intervene: “We’re not saying the report is wrong,” Murphy said, before using slightly different words to say it was wrong: “It doesn’t call our people racist, or that we’re a racist organisation.”
If the ensuing mess of commentary mirrored anything in the report, it was this item from the executive summary: “Collingwood is perceived as being defensive, doubling down and denying allegations instead of taking an active and proactive approach.”
After two decades trumpeting Collingwood’s might, McGuire now talked it down like an amateur suburban club. “It is not BHP, it’s a footy club,” he said.
A few breaths later he claimed the opposite: “We’re a big club now — men, women, different sports.” Collingwood could “provide leadership in the community as only Collingwood can.”
Asked to reply to claims in the report that the club’s offending was “distinct and egregious”, McGuire said: “We don’t want to get into semantics.” At one point, he started listing the ethnicities of Collingwood staff at random.
“Sometimes you just don’t get it until you get it,” McGuire said, sounding a lot like someone who didn’t get it at all.
Eddie McGuire gave a 45-minute press conference outlining the leaked report.(AAP: Luis Ascui)
It is hard to summarise the whole 45 minutes with a straight face. Take the following 10-second sequence of Trumpian bullet points as an example: “We hear a lot of talk in this space. We’re doing something. We called things out six years ago — in fact, 22 years ago, when we started on this campaign. We led the way on so many of these things and continue to do so. Yes … there were mishaps along the journey, as there have been in all walks of life and in all organisations.”
In fact, it was Lumumba who called it out six years ago, and who continues to call it out. And 22 years ago? What happened in 1999? Was McGuire referring to the beginning of his presidency? Did he mean 1995, when Michael Long was abused? Or 1993, when Gilbert McAdam and Nicky Winmar were abused? “Led the way” for what?
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When a reporter pointed out the offence most victims would take at their abuse being referred to as a “mishap”, McGuire petulantly snapped: “Sorry, I haven’t brought my thesaurus with me.”
At first, Lumumba was the elephant in the room. McGuire claimed the club had been engaged in a six-year “deep dive into how we can make ourselves better”. In reality, as Lumumba has repeatedly made clear, the club spent much of that period undermining him and discrediting his experiences.
If anything, Monday was a microcosm of the club’s treatment of Lumumba. McGuire said: “Héritier was encouraged and asked to be part of this inquiry, or this report, and it’s his prerogative not to, and he didn’t.”
In fact, Lumumba simply didn’t trust the club or its processes — publicly stating so — and here was clear proof of why.
A day of vindication for Lumumba
Héritier Lumumba (centre) called out alleged racism he experienced during his time at Collingwood.(AAP: David Crosling)
If Collingwood considered Monday’s grilling a “tough conversation”, there are far harder ones to follow, not least with a long line of victims. Indeed, the report’s account of historical incidents was labelled “Racism at Collingwood — an abridged timeline”, for it reflected only a small sample of misdeeds.
[
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The report suggests Collingwood “should consider a reparative justice model, where the goal is not bringing an end to public declarations of racism or exonerating the club of it, but airing it, acknowledging it and making material gestures to righting and healing the harm that occurred. This includes proactively making amends that could include, but aren’t limited to: reparations, compensation, public apology, and commitments to reform.”
It is the passage that will have caused the greatest consternation in the corridors of power, yet “could” and “should” are doing a lot of heavy lifting; the related recommendation does not contain the words “compensation” or “reparations”.
Among others, Winmar, McAdam, Robert Muir and Joel Wilkinson will be interested observers of Collingwood’s next steps. The process might also spotlight neglected incidents, like the abuse suffered by Adrian McAdam at Victoria Park only weeks after his brother and Winmar made their brave stands, and which McGuire’s predecessor Allan McAlister refused to denounce.
“We’re not entering into that,” McAlister said at the time. “We’ve had enough.”
And now, enough really is enough.
Whatever the ineptitude of McGuire and Collingwood’s response, this is a day of vindication for Lumumba, whose brave confrontation of powerful institutions — not only Collingwood, but the eerily silent AFL, and a media machine which sought to undermine and discredit him — has the potential to change the game.
Lumumba’s courage will rightly be acknowledged, but so too should his stamina to keep fighting this battle, and his foresight. On his way out of Collingwood in 2014, Lumumba said: “One thing that I have learned in my journey that I will hold to my heart for the rest of my life is that I know what side of history I stand on.” In time, others will thrive thanks to what he held in his heart.
Others will fade, though not quietly. On Monday, McGuire inadvertently put it best: “This is an area fraught with danger and recriminations.” Perhaps the latter have only just begun.
Sometimes change can be driven from the top.
We know Eddie, Collingwood, and the AFL are more interested in cover ups than action.
Sometimes change can be driven from within.
I see no signs of the Collingwood players & staff going public and insisting on changes- they’re too busy protecting their image (Pendlebury, Grundy), preparing for their own Court cases, or trying to remember where they were last night.
So, that leaves change driven from the bottom up.
In other words Collingwood’s members.
The old consumer boycott can actually work wonders.
So how many of the Collingwood members that we all know, or work with, are actually prepared to return or not renew their memberships?
All the ones that deplore racism, but enable it by not actually acting?
I give Eddie a fortnight if only 10% of these Collingwood members openly returned or refused to renew memberships.
Finances talk.
So hang it on all the Collingwood supporters & members you know.
What the fark are they doing about it?