Federal MP Michael Sukkar has called on Peter Gordon to apologise to Susan Alberti

IT was the AFLW fiasco that has inflamed long-running tensions between Peter Gordon and Susan Alberti. Now a Federal MP is calling on the Bulldogs president to apologise for causing ‘hurt and humiliation’.

FEDERAL MP Michael Sukkar has called on Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon to apologise to club patron Susan Alberti for the “hurt and humiliation that occurred on Friday night at the Whitten Oval”.

Alberti was denied entry to the main entrance of the ground in a fiasco that has inflamed long-running tensions between the two Dogs benefactors.

Sukkar said “many people were questioning whether Peter Gordon personally authorised this outrageous treatment”.

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“Why hasn’t Peter Gordon already offered an unconditional apology to Sue Alberti for the hurt and humiliation that occurred on Friday night at Whitten Oval?” the Liberal member for Deakin said.

“The fact that no apology was immediately forthcoming has everyone drawing that conclusion.

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

Susan Alberti and Peter Gordon at a Western Bulldogs match in 2015. Picture: AFL Media

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

It is the second time this season Alberti has had access issues at Whitten Oval.

The Dogs on Sunday night said Alberti was not turned away at the gate for the club’s first home game two weeks ago and was let in on Friday night “as soon as ground staff recognised her”.

Alberti wasn’t the only one stopped at the main gate, with Bulldogs men’s captain Easton Wood also denied entry after forgetting his accreditation.

The gate is used for entry by players, club officials, league officials and the media, but not the general public.

Gordon texted Alberti on Saturday morning to arrange a meeting to “take you through the details of the club’s concerns”.

Alberti, 70, a former Bulldogs vice-president and major driver behind the creation of the AFLW competition, told the Herald Sun 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”.

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

“It is still my hope and judgment that the matter is best resolved by a frank discussion between me and Sue, and the club will make no further comment until after that meeting has taken place.”

Friends of Alberti on Sunday said claims she had bought her own film crew to a Whitten Oval match two weeks ago were incorrect.

“That’s a furphy — she agreed to allow a community TV station aligned to the western region to film her at the first game of the season on the proviso they had all relevant approvals,” the friend said.

Susan Alberti with Western Bulldogs players last year. Picture: Getty Images

SEN commentator Jack Heverin said he witnessed the incident making his way into the ground on Friday night.

“The security guard, it would be fair to say, thought he was bouncing at Club 23,” Heverin said.

“What I saw was pretty ordinary, in fact it went beyond pretty ordinary, it was embarrassing. It was really, really poor.”

Bulldogs Brownlow medallist Adam Cooney said: “I don’t know the backstory to it, but it is certainly humiliating for Susan Alberti and embarrassing that that has even played out. It’s so petty ... it’s disgraceful”.

AFL commission chairman Richard Goyder launched Alberti’s book, The Footy Lady, late last year and paid tribute to her role in bringing AFLW to life.