“As long as they conduct themselves like whites”…
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Come on, 100 % blaming the board ? Sure Eddie has a poor record on racist comments. But the culture is also set by coaches and by the team leadership group. None of these blokes positions is tenable.
For instance can it be said that Pendlebury is 100% blameless? Bucks, well he is in the same category, but we do know that he has been progressively cleaning out players over the last 10 years, and it was never clear whether he was clearing out larrikins, or players who abused substances, but no one ever mentioned racists. So if Bucks cleanout of players was to get rid of racists, well, he can make a case for at least having tried to do something.
The whole club needs to be pressure washed.
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If we got fined and punished for a report about a”pharmaceutical environment”. They should definitely be getting punished for “systemic racism”.
Their whole board to be kicked out allowing all of this to go on and for trying to cover it up. Ditto Buckley.
Major props to lumumba for having the guts to come out and make a big deal of all this. He has been kicked from pillar to post for it- but he has been proven 100% right. If he hadn’t of made such a big deal of it, all of this would never of come out at all. Well done Harry.
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Is this like bringing the game into disrepute?
Its a pretty damning summary.
Waiting for the AFL to respond…
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Just saw the ABC report. So it has “leaked” early, yet was handed to the board more than a month ago, after which Eddie announced he was leaving.
When are they planning on releasing the report?
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They’ll never release it. The AFL will come out with some stupid controversial rule changes this arvo and then Fox will write 10 articles on it, thus sweeping this under the rug as per usual.
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“Found guilty”
Were they on trial?
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I’d say very soon. Smell like conditioning. There was no way it wasn’t gonna come out at some stage. All in the timing.
It was interesting listening to this story being reported on ABC news breakfast this morning. It was just the report. No comment, no opinion whatsoever on the findings.
While I’m happy for news to be presented factually and without the presenters overlaying their moral blanket over the story, it is not what normally happens. Not surprised at all though as this particular presenter is a die hard Pies fan.
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The article from my reading says that the ABC have the report. Why haven’t they put it up as a download attached to the article?
Wouldn’t there be legal issues if it’s (theoretically) not to be published?
Probably on agreement with the anonymous party associated to or within the club who leaked the report.
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“Leak” the report on a day where there is another big news story coming out - maybe like WA going into lockdown
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Unless the ABC signed on to the AFLs or Collingwoods secrecy clause, I can’t see why. Who decided it’s ‘not to be published’ anyway, and why would this decision bind anyone outside Collingwood?
This isn’t the Official Secrets Act, it’s a fkg footy club.
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AFL website have just published this article
Investigation finds Collingwood guilty of ‘systemic racism’
Details of an independent investigation into Collingwood’s ‘toxic culture’ have been made public
By AAP, with staff writers - Just now
Nathan Buckley and Heritier Lumumba during a Collingwood training session at Olympic Park Oval in 2014. Picture: AFL Photos
AN INDEPENDENT investigation has found Collingwood guilty of “systemic racism” and recommended significant changes to ensure the club eliminates that “toxic” culture, according to widespread reports.
Details of the investigation were made public by News Corp on Monday. It found racism at Collingwood had resulted in “profound and enduring harm” to First Nations and African players which “affected them, their communities, and set dangerous norms for the public”.
AFL.com.au has contacted Collingwood and the AFL for comment.
The report said: "While claims of racism have been made across the AFL, there is something distinct and egregious about Collingwood’s history.
TAKING ACTION Pies launch internal probe into Lumumba’s racism claims
"In the thirty interviews undertaken for this review, there was no clear consensus about what the values of the Collingwood Football Club were.
"Collingwood claims to be guided by four formal values - belonging, commitment, realising potential and caring.
“There is a gap between what Collingwood Football Club says it stands for and what it does.”
The review found there has been a consistent pattern of Collingwood failing to adequately address incidents when they have arisen.
Heretier Lumumba and Eddie McGuire embrace after a round two match in 2013 between Collingwood and Carlton at the MCG. Picture: Michael Willson
It also found there was an absence of internal avenues for reporting racism in the club until very recently.
“All of this comes back to the leadership of the Collingwood Football Club – particularly its board – and the need for them to set the vision and values of the club and to drive structural change within the organisation,” the report says.
The review found there is a “genuine acknowledgement of past failures and a strong desire to do better”.
Positive steps already taken by Collingwood include the introduction of policies that directly target racism and the appointment of a new CEO who is committed to making changes.
Collingwood chief executive officer Mark Anderson. Picture: AFL Photos
“It needs to be noted and underlined that, in undertaking this review, the club was unflinching in holding up a mirror to itself,” the report says.
The report made 18 recommendations, including urging Collingwood to ensure accountability and consequences for acts of racism within the club and to develop a strategy to address and reconcile past acts of racism.
The report was commissioned by Collingwood’s board last year after a series of claims made by 2010 premiership player Heritier Lumumba.
TALK AND LISTEN Buckley welcomes investigation into Lumumba 'truths’
The investigation was conducted by distinguished professor Larissa Behrendt and professor Lindon Coombes, from the University of Technology Sydney.
Their report was handed to the club’s board on December 17.
Days later, long-standing president Eddie McGuire announced he will step down at the end of 2021.
Eddie McGuire at a Collingwood training session in 2019. Picture: AFL Photos
While 30 interviews took place during the review, Lumumba did not participate in the investigation.
Lumumba has previously claimed he was nicknamed “chimp” and that a culture of racist behaviour existed during his time at Collingwood, spanning 10 seasons from 2005-2014.
“It is not appropriate to review those allegations without Mr Lumumba’s involvement,” the report said.
“Nothing in this review can be taken as exonerating the Club from any alleged wrongdoing.”
The report’s authors said there needs to be a serious investigation into Lumumba’s claims, with his participation.
If you’re the ABC or Hun or whoever else got given the info, you’re burning your relationship by betraying your source’s trust.
It was clearly a deliberate leak of the story, it didn’t just fall their lap.
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Numbered hard copies with subtle differences within a text - together with capacity to block some of the text from being photographed- simplifies tracing back to the source of the leak We used that approach for confidential work documents
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i suspect this is a board leak from a McQuire enemy who isn’t happy about his final year in which he tries to rewrite histroy and leave a “legacy”
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The response will be directed to the league as a whole, with ‘great determination to heal the culture’.
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