AFL to escort Susan Alberti into AFLW matches after accreditation saga with Western Bulldogs

SUSAN Alberti has been guaranteed entry to all AFLW matches and will be given an AFL escort after the league stepped in to resolve the accreditation saga. But there will be no meeting between Alberti and Dogs president Peter Gordon as tensions rise.

Alberti says she has no plans to meet with Bulldogs president Peter Gordon. Picture: AFL

THE AFL has stepped in to resolve the Susan Alberti accreditation saga.

AFLW boss Nicole Livingstone contacted the Western Bulldogs patron on Wednesday to guarantee her entry into all future matches.

Alberti was told it was too late to issue her with official accreditation but that she would be met at the gate by Livingstone or another AFL staffer and personally escorted into AFLW stadiums.

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She said she “absolutely” intended to attend the Bulldogs’ next home match against Melbourne at Whitten Oval on Saturday, March 17.

“I’ll be met by the AFL and I won’t be going through the side gate — I’ll be going through the front door,” Alberti told the Herald Sun.

The AFL has stepped in to resolve the Susan Alberti accreditation saga. Picture: Getty

“Nicole Livingstone has been very supportive. They (the AFL) have been wonderful, they’ve been lovely actually.”

But Alberti said she had no plans to meet with Bulldogs president Peter Gordon.

Alberti, 70, was denied entry to the main entrance of the Whitten Oval last Friday night in a fiasco that has inflamed long-running tensions between the two Dogs benefactors.

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A former Bulldogs vice-president and major driver behind the creation of the AFLW competition, Alberti said on Saturday the incident had left her “sad and humiliated”.

Gordon hit back at Alberti in a statement on Saturday afternoon, saying: “I stand by the policies and actions of our staff and management”.

Alberti says she has no plans to meet with Bulldogs president Peter Gordon. Picture: AFL

“No one was excluded from the Whitten Oval,” Gordon said.

Federal MP Michael Sukkar later called on Gordon to apologise to Alberti for the “hurt and humiliation that occurred on Friday night”.

“No one has done more for the Western Bulldogs or women’s football in recent years than Sue,” Sukkar said.

“Sue should be revered and respected for everything she has done.”

Alberti was named 2017 Melburnian of the Year and was appointed as a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2016 for “eminent service to the community, particularly through philanthropic and fundraising support”.