Collingwood sit on report into Lumumba’s racism claims

Collingwood’s board will deliberate over the Christmas period before providing an update on an independent report into allegations of racism at the club as detailed by Heritier Lumumba.

Heritier Lumumba’s time at Collingwood is being reviewed by the club. Picture: Michael Klein

Collingwood’s board will deliberate over the Christmas period before providing an update on a much-anticipated independent report into allegations of racism at the AFL club.

The Magpies provided News Corp with a statement after disgruntled ex-player Heritier Lumumba called on them to make the report public in a series of social media posts on Wednesday night.

They received the CFC Do Better Report, overseen by Professor Larissa Behrendt, on December 17.

The board commissioned the review six months ago to “deepen the club’s understanding of the impact of racism and to drive improvement and thought leadership”.

The statement said Collingwood’s board members would consider the report’s findings and provide an update in the New Year.

The Pies said when announcing the review that Behrendt would revisit Lumumba’s time at the club to better understand his experiences and “the organisational culture of the club in the day”.

Lumumba refused to be part of the review, saying it was “simply too late” to resolve his racism allegations from his decade at the club.

Influential Collingwood president Eddie McGuire revealed last week that next season would be his last at the helm.

McGuire said leading the fight against racism and developing facilities at the Holden Centre and Victoria Park were among his priorities next year.

“I have much to do before I hand on the baton, together with my board and executive we are set to announce significant landmark initiatives in the area of equality, the fight against racism to ensure Collingwood is a safe and welcoming environment for all people, and more on that in due course,” he said.

Lumumba, who played in the Magpies’ 2010 Grand Final victory and 199 games in total between 2005 and 2014, said his former club had ignored his request to receive the report.

“If they truly believe in transparency, CFC should make the report public,” Lumumba posted on Twitter.

“Instead, they’re doing their best to hide it behind McGuire’s ‘lap of honour’ exit from the club’s presidency.

“CFC’s damage control tactics are predictable. They likely include a strategically crafted apology that will attempt to spin its way out of real accountability.

“CFC has constantly avoided acknowledging their toxicity and institutional failures, or how they punished me for speaking out and used their power as an institution to publicly discredit me.”

Lumumba alleges that Collingwood had “tried to spin” McGuire’s exit as his decision rather than having anything to do with the report.

Behrendt is a professor of law who chaired the federal government’s 2011 review into Indigenous higher education.

Herald Sun