Football ‘should be for everyone’: Former Demons president Joseph Gutnick

Former Melbourne Football Club president and ordained Orthodox rabbi Joseph Gutnick says Andrew Thorburn should not have resigned as Essendon chief over his church’s sermon.

Joseph Gutnick at a drilling site in Tasmania in March. Picture: Peter Mathew

Former Melbourne Football Club president and ordained Orthodox rabbi Joseph Gutnick believes “football is for everybody” and Andrew Thorburn should not have resigned as Essendon chief over his church’s sermon.

Mr Thorburn quit as CEO after one day in the job following revelations he is chair of the City on a Hill church that preached practising homosexuality was a sin and likened abortion with the Holocaust.

“When it comes to football, everyone should understand (that) everyone will have different points of view,” Mr Gutnick said. “No one had any objections when I was president with my Jewish views when I was keeping the Sabbath and I couldn’t go to a grand final.

“People tolerated that, and the fact I was wearing a red and blue yarmulke (skullcap).”

Mr Gutnick made a fortune out of diamonds during a career in which he declared bankruptcy in 2016 and was investigated by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission into past company loans in 2019.

One “only had to google” his ultra-Orthodox Jewish beliefs to discover they were conservative, yet he did not experience anti-Semitism during his time as president from 1996 to 2001, Mr Gutnick said.

“People are entitled to disagree with me,” he said.

He acknowledged these beliefs might alienate LGBT supporters. He also said asking Mr Thorburn to resign because of his religion could exclude Christian supporters.

“There are religious people who are against abortion. There are people who are pro-abortion and homosexuality,” he said. “That is the right of the individual. Everyone should be tolerant.

“We live in a democratic country. (Mr Thorburn) should not have been forced to resign.”

Mr Gutnick said everyone “has a right to their own opinion”.

“(Football) is for everybody, a religious man like me and for … other people to act as the way they are,” he said. “This is my opinion as a past president of Melbourne Football Club.”

As the Thorburn crisis continued to engulf Essendon for a third day, the church and its pastor, Guy Mason, launched a defence of Mr Thorburn and apologised for the 2013 sermon that sparked controversy.

The sermon said: “Today we look back in sadness and disgust over concentration camps, future generations will look back with sadness at the legal murder of hundreds of thousands of human beings through medicine and in the name of freedom.”

On Thursday, a note on their website explained the sermon had been edited. “This summary was edited on Oct 4 by removing a poorly worded reference to concentration camps that we sincerely apologise for,” it read.

Mr Mason also released a message to his followers overnight on Wednesday in support of Mr Thorburn. “Andrew is a remarkable leader. He has been and continues to be an incredible gift to our church,” he said.

“He is a man of great character, and I am inspired by his conviction and integrity. It is these very character traits that would have made him a great success at Essendon.”

Earlier on Thursday, the Reverend Tim Costello told the ABC the nation should engage in a more nuanced debate and highlighted the need for a religious bill of rights. “We have had a rush to judgment and I think it’s been probably unfair to Andrew. Sadly, and depressingly for me, it has triggered the culture wars,” he said. We have competing rights: rights of religious freedom and rights of corporations to appoint CEOs that align with their values.

“I have always been a strong supporter for a bill of rights. I think it’s outrageous we are the only Western democracy without one.”

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said his Catholic faith guided him to oppose homophobia, after the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Comensoli, accused him of contributing to “an unhelpful spirit of division”.

“I am a Catholic. I send my kids to Catholic schools. My faith is important to me. It guides me every day,” Mr Andrews said.

State Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said if he were elected premier, he would unite and not divide Victorians.