Mabior Chol’s father breaks silence on groping incident
The father of AFL player Mabior Chol has broken his silence and given an insight into his son’s state of mind after the Richmond ruckman was caught up in a controversial groping incident.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The father of AFL player Mabior Chol has thrown his support behind his son, saying he just wants to move on from the groping incident and play football.
Footage from in the Tigers rooms, which was originally broadcast on television, was circulated on social media on Friday and showed premiership players Nick Vlastuin and Jayden Short inappropriately groping Chol.
Chol “John” Mabior said he had spoken with his son (right) before he headed to South Australia for Saturday night’s clash with Port Adelaide and he was OK.
“I spoke to Mabior, and Mabior is good,” Mr Mabior told the Sunday Herald Sun. “Mabior and the players and the team are good.”
Asked whether he thought what Chol’s Tiger teammates did in post-game celebrations was wrong, Mr Mabior said: “It’s all good.”
“They are going to Adelaide. He just wants to play,” Mr Chol said.
He said the family was proud of the “very good man” their son had become, watching most of his games on the TV from their Brisbane home.
A sister of the Sudanese-born forward said she believed Richmond Football Club had dealt with the issue appropriately. “We already spoke to Richmond Football Club and basically the club has already put a statement out there, and I believe everything is under control,” she said.
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick on Saturday said he had addressed groping among players and would use the matter as an educational piece.
The two-time premiership coach said he had not considered dropping defenders Vlastuin and Short for Saturday’s clash with Port Adelaide but also did not believe the story had been “overblown”.
“We understand it’s not a great look for the game,” Hardwick said.
Kayo is your ticket to the 2020 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. Watch every match of every round Live & On-Demand. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
“We’re disappointed and the fact of the matter is we spoke about it about two days earlier, so we thought we’d nipped it in the bud.
“It was more about education. At the end of the day the guys made a mistake, they’re incredibly apologetic about it, Mabior took no offence. It doesn’t make the action right and we understand that and our players won’t do it again.
“The look is really poor, the action is poor, and we’ll learn from it.”
Hardwick said it was a serious matter and he had made it clear similar behaviour would not be tolerated. “We don’t think it’s overblown,” Hardwick said on Fox Footy.
“The reality is it’s a situation that doesn’t look great. We understand that, we’re here to set an example.”
Chol’s manager, Ralph Carr, said on Saturday he and his client considered the matter closed.