Alastair Clarkson lashes out at Hawthorn over racism investigation

Nearly eight months after serious accusations of racism were levelled at him, Alastair Clarkson has slammed his former club.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MAY 07: Alastair Clarkson, Senior Coach of the Kangaroos looks on during the 2023 AFL Round 08 match between the North Melbourne Kangaroos and the St Kilda Saints at Marvel Stadium on May 7, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Alastair Clarkson has launched a scathing attack on the credibility of the Hawthorn racism investigation and labelled his old club “shameful” as he declared he’s been unfairly treated for the entire process.

The North Melbourne coach said he was frustrated at being denied a chance to present his version of events to the investigators over the previous eight months, and that Hawthorn should be investigated for its handling of the issue.

He said he did not want to call himself a victim of the situation, but urged either Hawthorn or the AFL to take charge of the proceedings, blaming his former club for the confusion over the investigation.

“There‘s one particular party out there that was the catalyst for all this, that haven’t been investigated at all — their governance and conduct in this whole thing, the Hawthorn Football Club, just shameful,” Clarkson said.

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“Let‘s do an investigation on them and their practices and see how they go.

“All these events ... just makes it a circus, someone just needs to cut through it all and take ownership of the whole process, whether that‘s from within the Hawthorn Football Club or the AFL.”

Chris Fagan and Alastair Clarkson . (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

It comes the day after the chair of the independent panel, Bernard Quinn KC, released a statement detailing why the process had stalled, saying that Clarkson, Brisbane coach Chris Fagan and former Hawthorn player development manager Jason Burt were refusing to be interviewed until documents detailing the allegations were handed over to them.

Mr Quinn said the Indigenous families involved in the investigation do not want the documents to be handed over due to fears sensitive personal information would be passed on, causing the halt to proceedings.

Clarkson criticised Mr Quinn for releasing the statement after imposing restrictions on what the parties involved in the investigation could say publicly.

“We‘re just waiting around like we have for the last eight months to see where it goes next ... bit intriguing that the guy who actually establishes the protocol around confidentiality actually breaches it yesterday,” Clarkson said.

“We‘re just waiting for the opportunity and the platform to be able to tell our side of the story, and when we get that, Fages, myself and Jase (Burt) right from the get go have been willing to co-operate and be involved in this investigation, but eight months later we still haven’t heard when or how it’s all going to unfold.

Alastair Clarkson. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

“What‘s the point arguing about it ... the damage is done and the reputations have been scarred, and we’ve got to somehow just claw our reputations back through this whole process, and all we want is a fair platform to be able to do that.

“The procedural fairness offered to myself, Fages and Jason has been next to zero, and that‘s particularly frustrating.”

Clarkson said the release of the statement had damaged his trust in the investigation which had impacted so many parties negatively.

“Why wouldn’t it, when the guy who’s heading up the actual process actually violates the very confidentiality that he said we should all abide by, how can we trust that process is going to be fair, and it hasn’t been for the whole eight months,” he said.

“It‘s just extraordinary that we waited eight months ... the game is the victim of this, the game is shamed, obviously myself, Fages, Jase and our families have been shamed ... the Indigenous and First Nations families, they’ve been shamed.”