Documents show horrific claims of racism made to Hawthorn investigators

A Hawthorn footballer claims he needs full time care in one of several allegations contained in a report of an investigation into the club.

Former coach Alastair Clarkson and Chris Fagan with Hawthorn in 2015. Picture: Colleen Petch.

WARNING: This story contains references to intergenerational trauma for Indigenous people, themes of suicide, self-harm and pregnancy loss.

A former Hawthorn footballer claims he needs full time care following alleged mistreatment during his time with the football club.

The player’s heartbreaking story has been detailed in the report commissioned by the club, titled ‘Cultural Safety Review: Of Past and Present Indigenous Players and Staff of the Hawthorn Football Club’.

The Herald Sun has obtained the full report and the findings can be viewed in full here.

The player says he has made several suicide attempts in the report and claims they would not have occurred if club staff had cultural awareness training and had more knowledge about First Nations people.

The horrific allegation comes after ABC Sport first reported the external review had uncovered allegations senior staff at Hawthorn demanded the separation of First Nations players from their partners and pressured one player and his partner to terminate a pregnancy for the sake of his career.

Former Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson and former assistant coach Chris Fagan have both repeatedly denied the allegations made in the report.

It is not possible at this time to independently verify the claims or assertions made in the report and this website does not suggest they are completely true and accurate, only that they have been made and are being investigated by various bodies.

The most troubling episode centres 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.

The Herald Sun on Tuesday revealed an unnamed Hawks coach accused former Hawthorn player development manager Jason Burt, Clarkson, Fagan and former football boss Mark Evans of operating the football department “like The Russian Mafia”.

The report further concluded that Clarkson, Fagan and Burt used “bullying and intimidation’’ against First Nations players and their partners between 2010 and 2016. Some incidents were so serious to “amount to human rights abuses’’.

Burt on Tuesday night released a statement to “categorically deny the conduct attributed to me in the media”.

The two men have stepped away. (Photo: Michael Willson/AFL Media)

Clarkson, who was earlier this month appointed to coach North Melbourne, and Fagan, who is now coach of the Brisbane Lions, have denied being at any such meeting. Fagan has taken a leave of absence as the AFL prepares to investigate the allegations. North Melbourne has announced Clarkson’s tenure, scheduled to begin on November 1, will also be delayed.

Journalist Damian Barrett said on Tuesday he believes the fallout from the investigation will see the two coaches miss the start of next season.

Another allegation contained in the report documents involves one former player who says he was left mentally broken by his time at the club and the nature of his eventual delisting.

The player alleges he was told by staff at the club to tell his wife and newborn baby to leave Melbourne and return home to another state.

“My partner and daughter were then not allowed to fly over to Melbourne to come and see me until my daughter was four months old, as the club had told my partner and myself that they would be a distraction to my football career,” the player, who has not been identified, alleged.

“When I was delisted, all my past trauma resurfaced, and I have been extremely unwell since. I am now deemed disabled, and I am on disability support pension, and I am also awaiting NDIS funding for a full time support worker to work with me 7 days a week.

“I have had multiple suicide attempts, multiple stays in the mental health unit at the hospital … the trauma that I deal with every day is because of the way the Club treated myself and my family.’’

The ABC last week reported a second player had also made suicide attempts.

The report also quoted unidentified players, who have alleged they were made to remove SIM cards from their phones and replace them with new ones in an attempt to cut them off from their partners and make them focus on their football careers.

Fagan again denied the allegations on Tuesday as it was revealed he has retained lawyers to defend himself.

“I confirm, as I said in my earlier statement, that I deny, categorically, the allegations of wrongdoing by me in relation to First Nations players at the Hawthorn Football Club, and that I intend to defend myself,’’ Fagan said.

Clarkson and Fagan were both part of the coaching staff at Hawthorn through the club’s four-time premiership winning era with Clarkson the head coach and Fagan the head of coaching and development from 2008 before becoming general manager of football in 2013 until he joined the Lions in 2016.

Clarkson and Fagan after the 2014 win. Photo: Michael Willson/AFL Media

Clarkson is on a five-year contract reported to be worth $5 million with the Kangaroos which will see him coach through to the end of the 2027 season.

Fagan is contracted at the Lions through to the end of 2023.

Clarkson was coach of Hawthorn between 2005 and 2021, while Fagan was a senior assistant coach and general manager of football at the club from 2008 to 2016.

AFL boss Gillon McLachlan announced last week an independent four-person panel would be put together to investigate the accusations and said the process would take around two months.

— The Herald Sun has exclusively obtained the full report titled Cultural Safety Review: Of Past and Present Indigenous Players and Staff of the Hawthorn Football Club.

Originally published as Documents show horrific claims of racism made to Hawthorn investigators