AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan’s legacy when it comes to women is under threat.
While McLachlan may have proved himself as an accomplished leader of the ultimate boys club in the land, when it comes to women, the CEO’s direction is, at it’s best, damaging.
Jordan De Goey, charged with a sexual assault, is set play for Collingwood on Monday and still the AFL CEO has said nothing.
What do the AFL’s key sponsor, the National Australia Bank, who last year re-signed as the naming rights holders of the AFLW until 2022 on the back of advancing “gender equality”, make of McLachlan’s silence on the De Goey issue? And what do Collingwood’s sponsors, including CGU Insurance and LaTrobe Financial, think of it all?
While there’s been nothing but silence from the AFL on the De Goey issue, in the corporate world some of the giants of industry have fallen following their mishandling of serious allegations and complaints involving women.
Last week QBE Group chief executive Pat Regan was removed after a complaint from a female employee led the board to find he had breached the insurer’s code of conduct. Last month AMP chairman David Murray resigned after the company was rocked by a series of sexual harassment complaints affecting senior managers, with allegations the company and its board of directors failed to handle them appropriately.
As the corporate world wakes up, the AFL is flat-out publicly ignoring major issues involving women.
Just days ago the Herald Sun’s Michael Warner revealed claims of a “boys club protection racket” where a female AFL employee revealed her male boss had aggressively locked her in an office, pointed at her and screamed: “I am the f..king (position deleted) and I decide what you do.”
There’s been no public statement from the AFL since these allegations came to light.
And where is the AFL Commission on all this? The leadership at the top of the AFL has gone missing on many levels. The AFL board is led by Richard Goyder, who also chairs Qantas and Woodside Energy.
Therefore the question has to be asked: would Goyder feel comfortable if a Qantas or Woodside employee was up on a sexual assault charge and continuing working in those companies?
While McLachlan may have started the groundbreaking national women’s competition, the AFLW, which was more than admirable, when it mattered most of late he has failed to lead on the most confronting issues for women; a sexual assault allegation against a star footballer.
The NRL on the contrary has gone from strength to strength since introducing their no-fault stand-down policy, using their discretionary powers to sideline players on any charge of violence against women. When Manly’s Dylan Walker was facing a domestic violence charge, which attracted a two-year jail term, the NRL CEO used his discretion without hesitation to stand the footballer down.
But to understand why nothing has been said by the AFL, you’ve got to take a harder look at the machinations of the AFL’s boys club — which is as much about winning games as it is protecting the brand at all costs. The most powerful person in the AFL, aside from the CEO himself, is Collingwood president Eddie McGuire. A man with a lot to say on everything, he has been unusually quiet.
The failure of leadership by McLachlan, McGuire and Collingwood CEO Mark Anderson is in stark contrast to the actions of Sydney Swans CEO Tom Harley last week.
Harley was dealing with the repercussions of the “extremely serious” assault allegations made on Instagram by Elijah Taylor’s former girlfriend. Harley didn’t go near the specifics of the allegations, which the AFL integrity unit is investigating — police have not laid charges against Taylor — but the Swans CEO showed how to lead.
In the hours after the allegation was made public, Harley fronted up and made a powerful general statement.
“What I can say and be absolutely unequivocal about is the condemnation of violence against women,” Harley said.
“From the Sydney Swans’ point of view, we have respect at the core of our values and we absolutely condemn any sort of violence against women, violence of any nature for that matter.”
It’s not politically correct to publicly abhor violence against women — it is common sense.
The AFL and many of its clubs have a tendency to hide behind policies and pledges. Deep, well-meaning gender equality pledges that aren‘t worth the paper they are written on.
The AFL don’t practice what they preach.
But that can change, there’s still time to say something and, even better, do something.
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