Adelaide Crows cleared over infamous Gold Coast 2018 pre-season camp
SA’s workplace safety regulator has delivered an official verdict on the Adelaide Crows’ 2018 pre-season camp after a long-running investigation.
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The final chapter has closed on the Adelaide Crows’ infamous Gold Coast pre-season camp after workplace regulator SafeWork SA cleared the club of any legal breach.
A brief SafeWork SA statement issued on Tuesday morning said its long-running investigation into the 2018 camp had been completed and was now closed.
“There is no evidence of any breach of the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA) relating to the camp,” the statement says.
“Throughout the investigation, the Adelaide Football Club fully co-operated with SafeWork SA and voluntarily provided all information and material to the investigators.
“SafeWork SA has a statutory function to investigate suspected breaches of the Work Health and Safety Act. Thorough investigations often reveal that no breach of the law occurred. This was the case in this matter.”
The investigation started after Premier Steven Marshall in July last year said he was disturbed by reports that Crows players endured psychological abuse at the camp, declaring a SafeWork SA investigation would be “an interesting thing to explore”.
The allegations, including that players were tied to trees and sledged with intensely personal details, unleashed a furore that preceded an exodus of players and club officials
The closure of the third investigation into the 2018 camp ends a tumultuous chapter in the Crows’ history, which included the 2017 grand finalist sinking to its first wooden spoon last year.
The workplace regulator does not provide detail on investigations, the statement says, citing legal confidentiality provisions that “specifically prevent the disclosure of information acquired during the course of the investigation”.
A three-sentence Adelaide Football Club statement emphasised that the club had been cleared of any wrongdoing and stressed its co-operation during the investigation.
“SafeWork SA’s comprehensive investigation, which took more than a year to complete, found neither the club nor any other person or organisation breached any work health and safety laws during or in relation to the camp,” the club statement said.
The Advertiser in December last year revealed SafeWork SA was pursuing a “comprehensive” inquiry into the Adelaide Crows’ infamous 2018 pre-season camp.
SafeWork SA on July 22 last year declared it had “begun preliminary inquiries” into the Crows’ camp, which one-time star recruit and newly crowned Magarey Medallist Bryce Gibbs last December said had been a “disaster” that meant the players “lost a bit of trust with the footy department”.
Adelaide hired AFL greats Jason Dunstall and Matthew Pavlich and high performance experts Jonah Oliver and Dr Tim Gabbett to run an independent review into its football department two years ago.
That group made a series of recommendations, which included head of football Brett Burton and senior assistant coach Scott Camporeale being sacked in the aftermath.
Other recommendations were the creation of a new position, Head of Leadership and Culture, and for there to be greater communication and role clarity between staff, coaches and players. Head coach Don Pyke also resigned before the review was finished, while chief executive Andrew Fagan stood down before the 2021 season.
The Crows have aggressively rebuilt an ageing list, including trading or delisting many experienced players with an eye on the future.
The footballers involved in the confronting camp have been mostly scathing of what took place. Curtly Hampton retired months afterwards, saying he had lost the desire to play at the highest level.
Fellow indigenous players Eddie Betts and Cam Ellis-Yolmen, who left to play for Carlton and Brisbane, respectively, were among the camp’s critics.
Directors of Collective Mind, which operated the camp, in September last year told inaugural Crows coach Graham Cornes that feedback from Crows’ players and coaches immediately after the camp left them believing the experience had been an overwhelming success.
Top Adelaide lawyer Greg Griffin in July last year said the AFL made a “serious error” in claiming its investigation into the Crows’ camp was independent, saying it controlled the board and, therefore, the club.
The AFL integrity unit in 2018 cleared the Crows of any wrongdoing in the “cult-like” team-building camp and concluded that there had been “no breach of industry rules”.
– with Marc McGowan
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