Bachar Houli opens up on controversy surrounding his Jed Lamb strike and suspension
BACHAR Houli says a week of controversy that saw him banned for four weeks for striking Jed Lamb was a test from God as he strives to be a role model for young Muslims.
Richmond
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BACHAR Houli sat down late last month and wrote an email to Australian Attorney-General George Brandis.
Pauline Hanson had just pulled off her latest stunt - a politically charged appearance in a burka in the Senate - and Brandis had made a stand.
His thundering condemnation of Hanson - and defence of Australia’s Muslim community - struck a chord with Richmond star Houli.
“When you see Attorney-General George Brandis stick up for us, you feel proud,” Houli says.
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“It should put a bit of hope in you when we have true leaders of our country sticking up for you and I actually sent him an email saying you make us feel proud and the community is behind you. We appreciate the support you have for us.
“The majority of Australians believe we are good people, they are just a minority.”
Brandis’ office duly replied - Houli has Malcolm Turnbull’s mobile number but doesn’t have a hotline to Brandis.
Most AFL footballers wouldn’t even know who Brandis was, let alone have the digits of Australia’s most powerful man.
Yet as one of Australia’s highest-profile Muslim sportspeople, Houli’s career has always had a political element.
If you were looking for a political powderkeg this year in a media world of hot takes and click-bait headlines, Houli’s situation had all the explosive ingredients.
A strike on Carlton opponent Jed Lamb, a blatantly wrong tribunal decision, a historic appeal then testimony from two of Australia’s most polarising figures - Turnbull and media figure Waleed Aly.
In his understated way, Houli describes it as “a week full of complications”.
And yet even now the 29-year-old says he has emerged from that controversy with faith renewed.
As Houli says, he hit someone and had to accept the consequences.
But he had a choice to “sook” about the AFL appeals board doubling his two-week sentence, or he could use it as a test of his faith.
“The thing with my religion is that everything happens for a reason and you take the positives,” says Houli, talking to the Sunday Herald Sun for the first time about the controversy.
“For me I accepted it happened and you can be positive and smile and text Jed and be a proud person.
“That goes back to my religion. I go back to a few verses in the Koran. After hardship comes ease.
“It wasn’t hardship for me, it was blown way out of proportion, but I kept control and kept calm.
“I treated the situation as this was meant to be from God. It’s a true test. How will you respond?
“Complain and turn away from your beliefs and say, ‘Why is this happening to me?’
“Or accept it. And I purely thought I passed the test.”
If Houli was not a footballer June 25 would have been spent celebrating the end of Ramadan and the breaking of the fast.
Instead he was doing what he does best - surging up the ground at the MCG as Lamb tried to break his run.
What happened next shocked Houli and immediately threw him into a week of chaos.
“He came off the bench and was on me for a few minutes and I felt like there was extra-close attention,’’ Houli recalls.
“It’s nothing I hadn’t handled before, but I felt like I was getting hung on to a fair bit and tried to cause separation.
“There was no intention of hurting anyone. It happened and you can see in the replay I continued to run.
“When the umpire blew his whistle I turned around and saw Jed on the floor and it was like, ‘What have I done here?’
What happened was a swinging arm from Houli that knocked out Lamb on the spot, the Blues forward dropping to the ground like a stone.
“I found the Carlton players coming at me left, right and centre. Naturally I would have come over to the player, but the players didn’t let me,’’ Houli says.
“I knew I was not guilty of my actions, but the result of my actions you have to take responsibility for. I hurt the young fella and I was remorseful about that.”
The next morning he arrived at Punt Rd to a battery of cameras as Turnbull arrived for a pre-arranged funding announcement of $625,000 for the Bachar Houli Academy.
Houli knew by then he would receive an AFL suspension, but resiled to stay positive and accept his fate with good grace.
Houli publicly apologised to Lamb again (he had already texted him), Turnbull showed up, gave him the cheque for his high-performance academy for Muslim juniors.
Then all hell broke loose.
Houli was referred directly to the tribunal where his counsel used a slab of Turnbull’s Monday speech as well as references from AFL official Ali Fahour and Waleed Aly.
None of it would have mattered if the tribunal had put those references in context and still handed Houli an appropriate penalty.
Instead they somehow spat out a farcical two-match penalty and a firestorm erupted.
Houli is still amazed at the backlash to the references.
“All it was at the end of the day was people speaking the truth about a person and it goes against you in a way,” he said.
“It was a (backlash). We used a part of (Turnbull’s) speech. As for the other references, they were genuine people I have had a connection with and they spoke the truth.
“When you speak to those who gave me a character reference, they said they would do it again.”
Houli and coach Damien Hardwick had already determined he would get away for a few days post-suspension to clear his head.
Suddenly the prospect of an AFL-first appeal became an added complication in a week already turning pear-shaped.
“Dimma said go away for a few days. I actually packed my camper trailer and had a cold and couldn’t train anyway and I had missed one of the holy days on Sunday and I wasn’t planning to get reported,” he says.
“I actually packed my camper trailer, it was my brothers, my cousins and my uncle, a decent group of 30 of us away on a camping trip.
“It was eight hours drive, a private property in NSW where we have been going for 15-20 years where we go away and light a fire and enjoy each other’s company without any alcohol.
“We stopped for a sleep on Tuesday night and on Wednesday morning at 9am I said before we lose reception we should call the club.”
Richmond told him an appeal was in the wind.
Houli got to his camp, spent 90 minutes setting up, drove back into phone reception, was told the AFL would appeal and should check back by 3pm as the Tigers worked out a plan.
By 3pm they told him to pull up stumps and drive back to Melbourne.
“I had to be back by 6pm the next day, so I would have been there for 10 hours or so, packed my trailer and drove all the way home,’’ Houli says.
“I had good support from the guys who were there saying don’t be a sook, don’t be the person who chooses not to return.
“There was nothing I could do on the night, but to their credit they jumped back in the car with me and it was a long, long road trip, but it was worth it.”
The silver lining of Houli’s subsequent four-match suspension was the birth of second daughter Maryam to Houli and wife Rouba, who also have daughter Sarah, three and a half.
He was able to spend a week at home with his family before slotting back into the senior side post-suspension in a show of Hardwick’s faith.
He knows in the current political climate he needs to continue to defend his religion given world events.
But as a role model who has a program running in 30 schools, with traineeships and an elite academy that influences thousands of Muslim kids, he is also walking the walk.
“I am really proud of it. It’s about getting young men drafted or playing at the highest level but it’s also about creating good leadership,” Houli says.
“We need it especially in this day and age with what is happening to us Muslims around the world.
“It’s not a true reflection of who we are. There is so much negativity about our religion.
“What I instil in these young men is to continue to be proud of their identity as young Australian Muslims.
“The country provides so much to us, don’t feel you are left out, don’t feel people are against you.
“The majority of Australians are great people and understanding. So show people the true practices of our religion.”
His good friend Ali Fahour gave character evidence against some advice from AFL officials.
Then when Fahour punched a suburban footballer and stepped down from the AFL, Houli posted a message of support on Facebook.
Again it drew headlines and raised eyebrows.
Yet Houli said he could not stand by without supporting a mentor who has helped steer his career since his junior days.
“Ali is not a friend, he is a true brother to me and someone I looked up to across 11 years playing football,’’ he said.
“He has taught me so many things not only about football but life. When someone gives you that attention and love you fight to death for those sorts of people.
“Before he resigned he put his job on the line for me.
“That is true brotherhood and the way I look at it, what I did by putting that comment on Facebook, if I had my time again I would put two or three messages to support him.
“He is someone I love and look up to and you never shy away from that.”
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