AFL can’t be forgiven for doing nothing about alleged sex offender Jordan De Goey, writes Jessica Halloran
The blowtorch should no longer be on Bruce McAvaney after his ‘hiccup’ comment. It should be on the AFL hierarchy and Collingwood, who have been pathetic when it comes to taking a stand on violence against women, writes Jessica Halloran.
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Seven Network broadcaster Bruce McAvaney’s choice of words can be forgiven, but the AFL can’t be for doing nothing about alleged sex offender Jordan De Goey.
On Thursday night McAvaney quickly apologised for describing De Goey’s sexual assault charge as a “hiccup”, he acknowledged the upset he had caused, but the blowtorch should no longer be on the veteran commentator.
Instead the heat should be on the AFL hierarchy, led by CEO Gill McLachlan, as well as the Collingwood Football Club who have been nothing but pathetic when it comes to taking a stand on violence against women.
Their stand? They have no clear-cut stand on this issue that kills one Australian woman a week in this country.
The AFL have let the serious criminal charge against De Goey slide and allowed the Collingwood star to take the field, to be a star, to kick five-goals and play on like nothing has happened. This in turn has pretty much told the AFL community to be cool with sexual assault allegations. It then means a stale culture hasn’t shifted the slightest and it should be no shock to anyone when someone on TV ends up alluding to a sexual assault charge as a “hiccup”.
De Goey should not be playing. And if De Goey was an NRL footballer, say representing the Melbourne Storm, he wouldn’t be playing.
The NRL’s “no fault” stand down policy is based on the NSW law and a sexual assault charge in that state attracts a jail term of 14 years. But it’s not about the length of the jail term, because when it comes to any charge involving allegations of violence against women and children, the NRL has it written into their stand down policy that they have the discretion to stop footballers from playing.
There is no more water-tight, strong policy – which truly respects women and children — in world sport. As one high-ranking NRL official explained, they listened to their fan base after Dragons star Jack de Belin was charged with sexual assault in the summer of 2018 and moved to implement the policy.
“There has been a shift in community expectations, and the rugby league community recognise the presumption of innocence but also wanted us to show sensitivity and respect to the victim, and that’s what we are doing,” said the source.
Again, the AFL needs this policy or something similar if they are going to get real about violence against women.
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Because no one in the AFL seems to be taking it seriously.
Collingwood’s social media managed a tone-deaf tweet stating, “Welcome back, Jordy” with the vision and a piece of commentary where McAvaney uses the word “hiccup”.
In recent times the AFL’s questionable culture when it comes to race and women has been harder and harder to suppress and smother.
There were revelations in the Herald Sun on Friday that some Adelaide Crows players were told they needed to be “so tight that if a teammate slept with your wife it would be OK” on a team camp two years ago.
You only have to switch on the TV to see Wayne Carey as a face of the AFL’s host broadcaster, Seven. He who in 2007 allegedly smashed a wine glass in his girlfriend’s face, cutting her mouth and neck. When police attended the scene Carey lashed out and kicked a female police officer in the mouth. He was convicted for assaulting the officer. His then girlfriend withdrew her complaint.
The AFL can’t be forgiven for letting their culture slide this far, but they still have time to do something about it.
Originally published as AFL can’t be forgiven for doing nothing about alleged sex offender Jordan De Goey, writes Jessica Halloran