Heritier Lumumba hits out at ‘deeply flawed’ investigation into his claims of racism at Collingwood
Heritier Lumumba has continued his attack on Collingwood in another series of tweets, saying there are flaws with the club’s independent inquiry into his allegations of racism.
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Heritier Lumumba has labelled Collingwood’s independent review into his claims of racism at the club as “deeply flawed” in his latest attack on his former club.
The Magpies announced at the weekend its plans for an independent investigation into Lumumba’s allegations of a poor culture while he played at Collingwood.
The club’s review into Lumumba’s claims will be led by Larissa Behrendt, a professor of law who chaired the federal government’s 2011 review into indigenous higher education in 2011.
Addressing the Collingwood review on social media on Wednesday, Lumumba launched into his former club again, saying the process outlined by the club was flawed.
He said his allegations were about more than a racist nickname, but claimed he had been punished for standing up to the issue by the club.
“I’ve had an opportunity to read Collingwood’s latest statement re its ‘internal review’, which includes the appointment of Larissa Behrendt. Unfortunately, this process continues to be deeply flawed. Let me explain,” Lumumba wrote on Twitter.
“Firstly, my claims are not simply about a nickname that has now been confirmed multiple times. This is about me being punished for standing up to racism within my own club — from other players and the president himself.
“The person responsible for sending out media statements about the integrity committee is CFC’s head of PR, Stephen Rielly (sic). Reilley was one of the key individuals involved in punishing me for speaking out about McGuire’s racism towards Adam Goodes in 2013.
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“Reilly had no shame in telling me that I threw McGuire under the bus. Will he be subject to questioning or investigation by the integrity committee?
“As recently as last month, Reilly mislead a journalist, telling them that one of my former teammates who came forward to confirm my experiences was now backing away from his statement. I’m in contact with my teammates that came forward.
“I can’t say I’m surprised — in 2017 CFC actively backgrounded Waleed Aly and the Project with misleading information about my character, integrity, mental health and the origin of the racist nickname ‘chimp’.”
The Herald Sun is not suggesting that Lumumba’s allegations are true, only that they have been made.
Collingwood did not want to respond to Lumumba’s tweets, saying the club would not make any further comment until the independent review was completed.
“We have got a process underway, which has been made pretty transparent and public and we’ll let them do their work and we’ll see what they come up with,” a club spokesperson said.
Lumumba also questioned why the Magpies’ review was focused just on his time at the club, saying the issue went much further and the club needed to investigate other experiences of racism from other players.
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He claimed racism was also an issue within the club’s cheer squad.
“CFCs statement alluded to the investigation being exclusively about my experiences from 2005-2014. Why are they conveniently excluding the documented experiences of Leon Davis, whose career began in 1999?,” Lumumba said.
“I was recently contacted by a former official CFC cheer squad member, who shared their experiences of witness racism within the squad. Her parents (also in the cheer squad) made formal complaints from 2007-09, but were routinely ignored. Finally, the family quit.
“In a 2012 match between CFC and the Gold Coast Suns, Joel Wilkinson experienced ‘mass racial abuse’ by CFC fans, who made monkey noises at him throughout the game. He also shared the measures that were taken to create a false narrative about the incident and silence him.
“In 2013, Adam Goodes was vilified by a CFC fan. Is it surprising that both Joel Wilkinson and Adam Goodes suffered the same treatment by CFCs given that they actively ignored formal complaints about racism in their own cheer squad.
“Why stop the investigation in 2014? After the release of the doco Fair Game in 2017, CFC’s racism continued. (Eddie) McGuire, (Nathan) Buckley & Reilly chose to push the story that they were simply unaware of the racism that I faced, and that they were ‘concerned’ for my mental health.
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