Heritier Lumumba Collingwood dossier: Nathan Buckley responds to explosive claims

Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has offered his response to allegations made against him by Heritier Lumumba which expose a toxic culture at Collingwood.

Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has refused to respond to specific allegations made against him and the club by ex-player Heritier Lumumba.

Buckley said his version of events was “very different” to Lumumba and would not comment on claims that a pornographic image was shown to Collingwood players during a 2014 team meeting by an assistant coach.

“I’m not going to go into detail of what is in there (Lumumba’s dossier). There’s a lot that’s not right in there,” Buckley told SEN.

“If you start denying one and talking about another, it creates a highlight of an issue that I reckon across the board that is not the truth that I know to be true.”

Buckley said about other allegations: “I’m not going to say Heritier is right here or wrong here. That is his perspective of the truth.

“But there are other versions of the truth that are a long way away from the way that he perceives it.

“Mine is very different from what he presents. But the context becomes important.”

In an explosive dossier revealed today in the Herald Sun, Lumumba claims that during an eight-hour mediation session “Buckley was adamant that I was the problem – I had ‘gone rogue,’ ‘ flown off the handle’ and ‘thrown (him) McGuire under the bus’ (after his King Kong gaffe).”

Nathan Buckley and Heritier Lumumba. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

The 2010 premiership player had wanted to present the document to Collingwood as part of a Do Better report truth-telling process but withdrew from formal talks with the Magpies last month, declaring that the club “cannot be trusted to pursue genuine reconciliation with its past”.

Buckley maintained that he and the club had apologised to Lumumba and said that he did not know what it will take to satisfy the premiership player in his quest.

“I’ve apologised to him, the club has apologised to him,” he said.

“For the environment that he has been in. Not just Heritier, but the other Indigenous players that have come through. And other areas that we talk about, like misogyny, homophobia … those areas of the cultural aspects of an organization, football clubs have come a long way.

“When you remove context and bring it into the current day, it sounds even more abhorrent than it would have been then.”

Nathan Buckley has responded to Lumumba’s explosive claims. Picture: Getty Images

He said he was not concerned that his legacy at the club would be damaged.

Buckley said he “slept well” last night and his “conscience is clear” after acknowledging his shortcomings as a leader in recent times.

“The club have tried to work with Heritier, along with all of the other Indigenous players who have been a part of a systemic racism situation over the course of the club’s history, essentially. The club is in the process of trying to unpack that and make the steps to move forward,” Buckley said on SEN.

“Clearly I was at the club as a player and as a coach. I’m happy to engage with the club however they wish.

“Heritier hasn’t been satisfied with that, and that’s why we’re where we’re at now, I think.”

Buckley said Lumumba’s stance had been consistent “in conversations that I’ve had with him along the way”.

“The big picture idea of being more culturally aware and breaking this paradigm of systemic racism that has been present, not just at Collingwood but throughout our society, I think that’s definitely front of mind,” he said.

“We feel like we’re moving towards that. But what came out today and where Heritier has positioned himself at the club, would be consistent with conversations that I’ve had with him along the way – that he just would not be pacified and no intervention seemed to be enough to pacify him in the moment. And it seems to still be the case a decade down the track.

“Fundamental to truth-telling is the truth. Heritier has shared his truth publicly. He had an opportunity … he could have given that to the football club. I was told last night that this was presented to the club. I rang the club and it hasn’t been presented to the club, at all.”

Originally published as Heritier Lumumba Collingwood dossier: Nathan Buckley responds to explosive claims