Degraded, controlled, humiliated: Ex-staff say AFL’s ‘toxic’ culture forces women out of code

The AFL’s “toxic culture” forces women out of the code – and then keeps them silent: that’s the grim verdict of AFL ex-employees who complained about bullying.

Women are speaking up about the AFL's "toxic culture".

The AFL’s “toxic culture” forces women out of the code – and then keeps them silent.

That’s the grim verdict of many of the former AFL and club employees who have spoken to The Australian.

These are all people who love Australian rules and, in many cases, were living out their dreams of working for the nation’s most glamorous sport.

Now, having left under unhappy circumstances, they want to share their stories to force change in their beloved AFL, but fear the financial burden of paying back their settlements, as well as a professional backlash.

One woman described the bullying she received during her time at the AFL as “covert”. She said her most senior manager didn’t initiate a conversation with her for two years. She claims he didn’t respond to a single email she sent.

Another said she felt she had been unable to show the AFL her full talents because her manager was so controlling and domineering.

“I feel like I have been robbed of the ability to get promoted and show what I was capable of,” she said.

The Australian also spoke to a woman who worked at an AFL state association who, after being bullied, was eventually made redundant, asked to sign a confidentiality agreement and was given a payout of around $60,000.

She believes she was “managed out” of the AFL because she complained. Her superior’s domineering behaviour once saw him scream at her in an office with the door closed, leaving her feeling “degraded and humiliated”.

Years on she suffers anxiety, struggles with confidence and has PTSD from the experience.

The former AFL worker says her silence was “bought”.

“Publicly (the AFL) they’re praised for their programs … for the way they treat women and their progressive policies but they absolutely don’t care,” she told The Australian. “They want to silence victims … and then it’s just business as usual.”

While her boss told a staff meeting he was resigning because of unrelated reasons, no-one formally acknowledged his behaviour towards her. Further to that she believes she was “sidelined” for “speaking out” about his behaviour.

In a statement last night AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan rejected any allegation NDAs were used to silence victims.

“If there is a complaint or incident, it is taken seriously and during my time under no circumstances has the AFL ignored or been dismissive of a formal complaint or tried to silence people.

“Like all companies, it is standard practice for all people exiting the AFL via redundancy, termination or mutual separation to sign a Deed of Release that provides closure to all legal matters.

“This is not a barrier to people being able to share their experience and shouldn’t be.”

McLachlan said the code regularly conducted workplace behaviour training.

“And in the past month we have actively leant into the conversation on sexual harassment and anonymously surveyed all of our people.

“We have a very clear view on where we are at today – I believe we are tracking very well but we can always do better. Values are important to our organisation and we understand the responsibility we have as a code to lead on these issues because so many people notice our example.”

The former employee said soon after “hearing rumours” her position was to be made redundant, she wrote a letter to her AFL state body saying she had “ongoing negative repercussions on a personal and professional level” since complaining about her boss.

In the letter she points out she also had raised the “bias against females” and there were different standards of behaviour expected for women.

“The likes of (man A) and (man B) are considered direct and opinionated when they deliver information in a direct manner, however I’m told to ‘soften’ my approach or to be more ‘respectful’ when I’m direct,” she wrote. “(Man B) once told me I intimidated his staff because I was theatrical and threw my hands around a lot when I spoke.

“This underlines the emphasis on female employees in AFL culture being expected to be submissive, and display a male construct of how a woman ought to behave, whereas men can exhibit aggressive, offensive and disrespectful behaviour and it is seen as reasonable.”

Another state-based AFL employee – who signed a confidentiality agreement – said she suffered the same for her behaviour even though men would often “scream aggressively” and “throw pens” at each other in anger at the office.

“I saw men in my office, throw things, swear at each other, yell at each other, they would be aggressive and abrasive – no one ever counselled them on their conduct,” she said.

“But you knew you couldn’t behave like that.”

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