Ex-Pie Heritier Lumumba says his belief in current club regime fixing culture problem is non-existent

Heritier Lumumba says Collingwood’s response to the ‘Do Better’ report lacked accountability and gave him little hope that things would change.

Former player Heritier Lumumba says he does not have “any faith” in Collingwood turning around their culture problems under their current leadership and says the Australian school system is as much to blame for a culture of prejudice.

In his first television interview since Collingwood’s ‘Do Better’ report was revealed by the Herald Sun on Monday, Lumumba said the Magpies’ response to the report “lacked accountability” and gave him little hope that things would change.

“My faith in the Collingwood Football Club in the current regime that it has is non-existent,” Lumumba said on ABC TV.

“I’ve been raising my concerns — voicing the countless experiences that I have had — to Collingwood for almost eight years now.

“When I started doing that I was open, I was vulnerable, I was candid with my experiences — with faith, at that time, in the club to live up to its values.

Heritier Lumumba responding to the racism report on the ABC.

“I saw that there was a complete disconnect from what the club has vowed to be and what the club was actually doing.”

Lumumba has previously described Collingwood as a “boys’ club for racist and sexist jokes” and claims he was nicknamed ‘Chimp’ during his decade-long career at the Magpies, which spanned from 2005 to 2014.

In a 2016 documentary, Lumumba also said he was made to feel like he “had done the wrong thing” after calling out Collingwood president Eddie McGuire for making controversial remarks about Adam Goodes and the King Kong musical on radio in 2013.

“The effect (on me) was severe,” he said.

“It affected me in a myriad of ways — physically, mentally and spiritually. Just dealing with the stresses of being an AFL footballer is enough.

“There’s enough stress that you have to deal with playing a game that requires so much of you.

“So not only was I dealing with the stresses of being an AFL footballer but that was completely exacerbated when the club that I thought really supported me and loved me was contributing to that stress by inflicting more pain and punishing me for simply raising genuine issues.”

Lumumba, based in Los Angeles, said while the tide was slowly changing in schools, history that Australians are being taught still fell short of providing a true picture.

“If you were born in Australia or if you’ve spent your life in Australia and you socialise in Australia, you were institutionalised in Australia …. you have been influenced by a foundation of prejudice,” Lumumba said.

“Young Australians are taught history through a Euro-centric perspective. It’s a one-sided history.

“I know there are efforts that are being made and there has been progress since I went to school, but it’s showing that it’s not translating.

“When you’re told one-sided history, what happens is you form a prejudice or prejudices and that is really at the heart of this issue.”

Lumumba said the decisions and actions of the AFL helped set standards “through all of society” and Collingwood’s response to the report showed a lack of understanding around the issue.

“We need to move away from, ‘I’m not racist’,” Lumumba said.

“That’s what we saw yesterday in Eddie McGuire’s monologue when he spoke about, ‘We’re not a racist club’.

“That is an indicator to me that, yes, you are a racist club.

“Because anyone that values anti-racism knows exactly that that’s not the type of language that you use when you are truly dedicated to the journey of what you needed to do to eradicate the prejudices.”

‘F***ING TRAIN WRECK’: EX-PIE UNLOADS IN ONLINE POST

Former Collingwood midfielder Chris Egan has slammed the Magpies’ response to the racism report as “dishonest” and “pathetic”, labelling his own involvement in it a waste of time.

Egan, who played for Collingwood from 2005 to 2008, shared a heated post on social media which labelled the Magpies’ press conference on Monday a “f---ing train wreck”.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire said at that press conference that it was a “proud day” for the Magpies, after a report finding systemic racism at the club was revealed.

“Dishonest, downplayed and no apologies,” Egan wrote.

Chris Egan during his playing days with Collingwood.

“Clubs (sic) image always more important then (sic) individuals wellbeing’s.

“Great opportunity to tell the world what the club has done wrong and own the mistreatment and pain you have caused. Always held us accountable if we weren’t honest but you’s (sic) really struggle to come to terms with that yourselves.”

Egan said he was one of 30 people interviewed to compile the report, which had “failed to dig into the real s--- that went on in that review”.

“Can’t believe I wasted my time,” he wrote.

“Proud day??? Actually it was a sad day because that was a f---ing train wreck.”

Egan hit out at the Magpies on social media.

Egan finished the post by using the hashtags #Pathetic and #ThanksForTheKickInTheGuts.

Egan played 27 games across his four seasons with Collingwood and now works in Aboriginal community services.

WINMAR SLAMS PIES’ RESPONSE TO RACISM REVELATIONS

Indigenous footy great Nicky Winmar also criticised McGuire and Collingwood for how they handled Monday’s press conference, in particular their defence arguing they “are not racist”.

Winmar said of the response: “That is an exact definition of systemic racism.”

The St Kilda great’s famous case when he lifted his jumper to the crowd to show the colour of his skin after being ­racially abused by Collingwood fans at Victoria Park in 1993 was among a series of ­examples listed in the report.

“I made my comment that day in 1993. My response to racism was to stand tall and say that I’m black and I’m proud. I still stand by it,” Winmar told the Herald Sun.

Nicky Winmar looks at the iconic photo of him pointing towards his skin, in defiance, after being abused during a game against Collingwood in 1993.

McGuire stared down calls for his resignation immediately after the leaking of the secret review, which found “systemic racism within the Collingwood Football Club”.

Lawyers for Heritier ­Lumumba, whose claims of racial vilification at the club sparked the probe, said the premiership Magpie had been “vindicated”.

“Now with it all out in the open, suffice to say it entirely vindicates our client’s claims,” special counsel Rhea Dhillon said.

“He has been saying these things for the past seven years.”

The report, commissioned by the club, was written by professors Larissa Behrendt and Lindon Coombes and submitted to the board in ­December, but kept under wraps until the Herald Sun ­revealed its findings on Monday.

It found there was “systemic racism” that must be addressed, the club’s record on the issue was “egregious”, its responses to incidents often “exacerbated” their impact and those who spoke out paid a “high cost”.

Eddie McGuire defends the Magpies at Monday’s press conference.

Lawyers for Lumumba say the report vindicates his racism claims.

Monash University sports sociologist Richard Pringle called for the AFL to make an example of Collingwood, saying if the league was serious about stamping out racism it would penalise clubs that failed to act on it.

“Banning Collingwood for a season, for example, would make a huge difference,” he said.

“It would spark outrage but it would force clubs to make a genuine attempt to stamp out racism.”

Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe said McGuire had ­“ruined” people’s lives and careers, adding “he’s not even sorry” and “he needs to leave now before he does any more harm, his time is up”.

Former Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse said he had never encountered racism at the club during his stint ­between 2000 and 2011.

“My playing group and the people around me in the football department – and anyone I dealt with at the club – would be horrified to be swept into that category,” Malthouse said.

“But unless you have walked in someone else’s shoes, you do not know.

“So if there had been references that were hurtful, then I think we have got to listen to what people are saying and take action.”

Winmar with Nathan Buckley in 2000.

Asked if McGuire’s position had become untenable, Malthouse said: “I’m not going there.”

Pressed whether a reference in the report to “a culture of individuals, if not quite being bigger than the club, then at least having an unhealthy degree of influence over club culture” was aimed at him, McGuire said he did not know.

“What’s happened on my watch is we’ve built a fantastic club, we’ve commissioned this report, we’ve built all sorts of mechanisms for getting ­involved in the community … we look back and say, in 2021, what is it we need to do?” McGuire said.

“It was not systemic racism, as such, we just didn’t have the processes to deal with it that we do now.

“This (report) isn’t criticism. This is a review. It’s very strong because we asked them to go as hard as they could, so we could have a base to build our club on. We wanted to seize the moment.”

Of the club’s relationship with Lumumba, McGuire said: “We want to engage with Heritier, he’s one of our guys – he doesn’t feel that way at the moment and it breaks our hearts.

“We’re not a mean-spirited club, we’re not a racist club, we’re a club that tries to do well.”

Collingwood even suggested the report could be used as a template to help the competition’s other 17 clubs eradicate racism.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said the league had received the report and “will now formally review the information and recommendations”.

The club’s most famous fan Joffa Corfe said: “The slur that everyone associated with Collingwood is racist or guilty of racism will be with us for a long time. It is heartbreaking to say the least.”

Toby Hemingway, of the Collingwood Fans Care group, said it was “time for Eddie to walk away”.

“I know it’s popular to pile on Eddie McGuire, he is that sort of figure,” he told the ABC. “He has a lot of abilities. I don’t think managing issues of race is one of them.”

Cheer squad member Voula Bitsikas said had it not been for McGuire’s ­earlier announcement he would depart the club at the end of 2021, the report should have ended his stint in the top job.

Originally published as Ex-Pie Heritier Lumumba says his belief in current club regime fixing culture problem is non-existent