Collingwood aboard for the Yes campaign on Indigenous voice

The Collingwood Football Club board says enshrining an Indigenous voice in the Constitution is the right thing to do.

Scott Pendlebury in Collingwood’s Indigenous guernsey. ‘To enact meaningful change, we need to hear from First Nations peoples,’ the club said. Picture. Phil Hillyard

The Collingwood Football Club board says enshrining an Indigenous voice in the Constitution is the right thing to do, two years since the release of an ­independent review that ­described the AFL club’s history of racism as “distinct and egregious” and demanded change from its leaders.

Collingwood announced the board decision to back the Indigenous advisory body on Wednesday as the boards of other clubs in the AFL and NRL prepare to declare formal positions on the voice referendum in coming days and weeks.

The Australian has been told the boards of many clubs in national codes will endorse the Yes campaign.

At least one football club is contemplating simply encouraging members to inform themselves about the history of the movement for constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians that led to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and its call for a voice.

In a statement on its website on Wednesday, Collingwood said the club had “been on a journey for a number of years now to better understand its past in order to be better for the future and the board’s support for a First Nations Voice to Parliament is a natural progression of its commitment to doing and being better”.

“Do better” is the name of the report by Professors Larissa ­Behrendt and Lindone Coombes that examined Collingwood’s ­response to racist incidents. It ­recommended the club make anti-racism and inclusion inherent in the club’s values, alongside excellence and the goal of winning.

After the report was made public in 2021, the AFL’s longtime external lawyer Jeff Browne was elected Collingwood president. Mr Browne wrote the racial vilification policy for all clubs.

“The board acknowledges and understands that to be better as a country and to enact meaningful change, we need to hear from First Nations peoples; their needs and aspirations,” Collingwood said in the announcement published online.

Tennis Australia formally backed the voice at the Australian Open in January and is expected to join other sporting codes, including the AFL and NRL, to promote the Yes case ahead of the voice referendum.

Australians will vote on whether to amend the constitution to guarantee the existence of the voice in October, November or December.

The board of Collingwood announced its decision after listening to Indigenous people who are for and against the reform.

“The club has engaged First Nations experts to present on both the YES and NO campaigns to its people,” the club said.

“The club will continue to listen and learn to understand the experiences of First Nations ­people.

“To be informed. And to listen, learn and engage in a matter that is important to all of us.

“Through this process, the Club has made clear to all its athletes, staff, Members and supporters that everyone has an individual democratic right to vote however they wish.

“The club wants to be clear, we are not instructing anyone on how to vote but rather state that as a Board, we believe supporting a First Nations Voice to Parliament is the right thing to do.”