‘We are sorry’: AFL ends investigation into racism allegations

The AFL held a snap press conference on Tuesday night amid reports of a deal to end its investigation into historical racism allegations.

MELBOURNE. 10/04/2022. AFL. Round 4. Hawthorn vs St Kilda at the MCG. James Sicily of the Hawks after todays loss to St Kilda. Photo by Michael Klein

The AFL has ended its independent investigation into allegations of historical racism at Hawthorn, but CEO Gillon McLachlan has not ruled out further actions from the complainants.

The Age reported that the AFL was moving to wind up the investigation with no findings against Alastair Clarkson, Chris Fagan and Jason Burt. This was confirmed by McLachlan during his press conference.

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Fronting the media on Tuesday night, McLachlan revealed that the AFL would not be taking further action as a result of the investigation, which was set up to determine whether “any persons shouldn’t be the subject disciplinary action for breach of AFL rules”.

McLachlan added that the AFL would only be able to impose sanctions for breaches of AFL rules involving people who are subject to those rules. But he made it clear the league may still punish Hawthorn, and that complainants may still seek further action against the club via a body like the Australian Human Rights Commission, or the courts.

His comments also pointed to a potential for further action “in other legal forums”.

“Today, the AFL and the six complainants who took part in the process, with the endorsement of the independent panel … have resolved as follows:

“No adverse findings have been made in the independent investigation against any of the individuals against which any of the allegations have been made. The complainants wish to resolve all differences with the AFL.

McLachlan fronted the media. Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

“As a result of this agreement, the Complainants do not wish to pursue the Independent Panel Investigation (which they wholeheartedly supported), or make any claims against the AFL in any other process, including the Australian Human Rights Council or court, in relation to their allegations.

“The complainants agree that the allegations they have made should not be further investigated by the independent panel. The AFL has now terminated the independent panel investigation with no charges to be brought against any person subject to the AFL rules as a result of the independent investigation.

“The agreement today does not preclude the complainants from taking other action or preclude the AFL from bringing a charge under AFL rules against Hawthorn Football Club in respect to the commissioning and oversight of the Binmada report.

It may not be over for Hawthorn. Photo by Michael Klein

“The AFL acknowledges that each one of the complainants feels hurt, pain and anguish following their time at Hawthorn and the parties acknowledge that the manner in which their allegations were leaked to the media was not in any party’s best interests.

“The AFL greatly values all players and officials in our game and commits to working with all its clubs and all its people to continue improving environments and ensuring they’re welcoming, supportive and understanding of everyone who comes to our game.

“There have been hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players who have played our game who have collectively played more than 25,000 games.

“The AFL knows that during the long history of our game there have been instances of racism and that players have been marginalised, hurt or discriminated against because of their race and for that we say sorry.”

The AFL has cleared Clarkson and Fagan. Photo: Michael Willson/AFL Media

McLachlan said the AFL would commit “signicantly increased resources” to address racism in both the AFL and AFLW.

McLachlan also admitted it was an “imperfect solution” and called it “one of the more challenging things I’ve seen in the game”.

Herald Sun lead footy writer Mark Robinson said on AFL 360 that the story was far from over.

“It’s far from the end of this story. The Indigenous families will now be taking their stories to the Human Rights Commission,” Robinson said.

The story erupted in September last year with an ABC Sport report of an external review of the Hawthorn Football Club, which found key figures at the Hawks — including Clarkson, Fagan and Burt — were responsible for the shocking mistreatment of Indigenous players.

The trio all repeatedly denied the claims.

The most troubling episode centred around one unsubstantiated allegation mentioned in the report, which details how one player claims Clarkson and Fagan were present at a meeting where he was told to leave his pregnant partner — and then move to live with a member of the club’s staff.

Originally published as ‘We are sorry’: AFL ends investigation into racism allegations