Rita Panahi: Alastair Clarkson and Chris Fagan deserved due process

Due process for Alastair Clarkson and Chris Fagan died when allegations were published by race-baiting media ravenous for a couple of big scalps.

Is the Hawthorn Football Club full of cowards?

Where are the players, coaches and support staff from the “family club’’ as Alistair Clarkson, Chris Fagan and Jason Burt are accused of racism, bullying and human rights abuses so egregious it led to two miscarriages and long-term trauma?

So far only former Hawk Trent Croad and current Lions captain Dayne Zorko have had the guts to publicly state a position; both have backed their respective coaches, though Zorko has no personal insight into what happened at Hawthorn. There’s no courage in taking potshots under the cover of anonymity or sitting on the fence if you have first-hand knowledge, good or bad, of what transpired at the club between 2010 and 2016.

These are grave allegations and those from within the inner sanctum can either confirm that a culture of racist bullying existed or that innocent men are being falsely and maliciously maligned.

It’s a little too late to wait for “the process” to play out when the men’s reputations are being dragged through the mud with their very livelihoods under threat.

Former Hawthorn coaches Alastair Clarkson and Chris Fagan. Picture: Colleen Petch.

Any notion of “due process’’ died the moment grievous allegations were published from anonymous accusers who remain protected while the accused are named, shamed and systematically destroyed by a race-baiting media ravenous for a couple of big scalps.

In a statement, Clarkson said he was denied the opportunity to give his side of the story or even access to the report that was leaked to the media.

“I now have grave concerns that any chance of a fair process and just outcome have been seriously undermined, if not irrevocably corrupted,” his statement read.

“The failure to maintain the confidentiality of the review and further damaging public speculation means I have no option but to express publicly, in the strongest and most emphatic terms possible, that I did not behave in the manner claimed.”

Former player development manager Burt hit out at the process employed by Hawthorn football club: “Hawthorn saw fit to commission the report but did not give me the opportunity to respond to the allegations before the report was finalised and handed to the AFL,” he said.

Fagan also categorically denies the allegations made against him and both he and Clarkson have retained lawyers.

All three men have stood down from their current roles and there is widespread speculation, including from senior journalists, that Clarkson will not coach North Melbourne next season.

Clarkson and Chris Fagan were denied the opportunity to give their side of the story in the report.

Let me be clear: if the coaches are guilty of what has been alleged, they should never work in football again – not in the AFL, not in any league.

No game, not even a premiership hat-trick, is more important than the wellbeing of a child. If an individual in a position of power coerced someone to have an abortion it is an unforgivable sin in my book.

That said, I have next to zero faith in reports where the accused are not questioned, nor are non-Indigenous players and support staff.

As for the lesser allegations, do we know if other non-Indigenous players were also encouraged to leave behind family and friends the club saw as disrupting their football careers?

Was there any investigation done to see if such practices were routine for players whose private lives were seen as compromising their football potential?

When one views events solely through the filter of racial politics, then every decision and outcome is seen as race-based.

And, here is the most controversial question for the race-baiters; what about personal responsibility?

Are we supposed to blame the decisions of adult men abandoning girlfriends and children on their football coach?

Do we blame the coach for other poor choices; infidelity, gambling, overeating?

What happened to personal agency and accountability? Are they also deemed racist in 2022?

It is utterly unfair that aggrieved individuals can make allegations and before those allegations are tested or the accused even consulted, the entire catastrophe is leaked to the media.

It’s a reversal of the onus of proof and the notion that one is innocent until proven guilty. Now we have the perverse situation where the accused are found guilty by the media and activist class until they can prove their innocence.

It’s worth noting that the Hawthorn report was sparked by the claims of former champ Cyril Rioli, whose grievances included a joke about his wife’s ripped jeans that the couple saw as racist and “the final straw”.

At the time, Indigenous leader Warren Mundine decried the “ridiculous” hyperbole around an innocuous comment and the eagerness to paint every incident as racially motivated.

“All you got to do is make an allegation, whether it’s true or false, and then the lynch mob comes out,” he said.

That’s why it’s more important than ever that those who were in the Hawthorn inner sanctum speak up about what really happened and provide some clarity and transparency.

Back up those making the allegations or the coaches being accused. Staying silent is easy; speaking up publicly, not anonymously, takes real courage.