‘Never heard it’: Eddie unaware of Heritier Lumumba ‘Chimp’ nickname, refutes ‘cover up’ claims
Collingwood president Eddie McGuire asserted nothing would be swept under the carpet in the club’s review of Heritier Lumumba’s racism claims.
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Collingwood president Eddie McGuire says he “never heard” the nickname “Chimp” used to describe Heritier Lumumba during his time at the club, and says there will be not be “anything swept” under the carpet in the club’s integrity investigation.
On Wednesday it was revealed retired Pies Chris Dawes and Brent Macaffer knew Lumumba was referred to as “Chimp” in their time at the club as teammates, which was corroborated by ex-Demons coach Paul Roos.
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Speaking on Footy Classified, McGuire said he had not been aware of the nickname during Heritier’s time at the club.
“I’ve never heard it … I’m not going to discuss this because we’re doing an investigation. I know a lot of things that are going on now because I’m hearing things as well,” McGuire said.
“We’re going to do this (review) with compassion, we’re going to do this forensically but we’re not looking to prosecute, we want to find out what’s gone on.
“I’ve spoken to some people and I’ve found different things, the nuances I had no idea.”
The club-wide integrity investigation had come under scrutiny from some for not including external parties, but McGuire revealed third parties are set to become involved.
“There’s going to be others, independents added on to that, which will be announced in the next couple of days,” McGuire said.
“We are having externals, absolutely.”
McGuire also confirmed Lumumba has no intention to engage with the club’s review at this stage, but that the Pies will “hopefully win his trust with what we’re doing”.
He said the review would be forensic and would seek the truth.
“This is something that we really want to get into and find out and grow from and look after,” McGuire said.
“We want to look after Heritier, we want to find the truth all the way through this. It’s not about trying to hide anything or manipulate, this is absolutely going to be straightforward, we want to do something.
“Not only because of the climate the world’s in at the moment but Heritier’s a Collingwood premiership player … I can guarantee you there’s not going to be anything swept anywhere, this is something that we’re going to really go through and the compassion involved in this is going to be at the upmost.
“Lets see where it lands.”
Originally published as ‘Never heard it’: Eddie unaware of Heritier Lumumba ‘Chimp’ nickname, refutes ‘cover up’ claims