Many AFL and AFLW players feel a culture of silence pervades the industry and are reluctant to raise concerns about serious issues for fear of ramifications, a new report by the player union concludes.
The AFLPA’s Insights and Impacts Report is based on data collected from a survey of the game’s male and female players, which had a 70 per cent response rate. It has been released as the union is locked in negotiations with the league for a joint collective bargaining agreement, and as AFLW players lobby for a longer season in the new deal.
The AFLPA report outlined a culture of silence keeping players from raising issues.Credit: Getty Images
Union chief executive Paul Marsh said some players had confided that they did not feel comfortable speaking out on sensitive issues even to their teammates. In some cases, this was because they feared upsetting team culture or club success.
“Whether that be the Hawthorn racism issues, the Adelaide training camp, we obviously saw Essendon [supplement saga] before that. So, it’s been an issue in the industry that we’ve been concerned about for a little while, and I think that’s something that we are seeing come through in discussions and also data,” Marsh said.
“So sometimes issues that should be spoken about can get swept under the carpet because of the fear of that.”
According to the report, male AFL players had an average rating of 6.4/10 and women’s players 7.2/10 when asked whether they felt their club allowed them to express their views in the media.
“In 2022, the football community was confronted with the aftermath of significant events, including the 2017 Adelaide Football Club training camp and the Hawthorn racism allegations spanning from 2008 to 2016. Despite these events occurring some time ago, players and their families have only recently felt comfortable raising their concerns,” the report said.
“Anecdotally, many AFL and AFLW players feel threatened by potential consequences of speaking out and believe that a culture of silence pervades throughout the industry. ”
Former Adelaide Crows player Josh Jenkins said years after the infamous camp that those involved were “sworn to secrecy even from teammates”, and after raising issues internally about what happened on the camp, he was “moved on from the Crows as a problem child, an argument starter” .
Of the players canvassed by the AFLPA, 77 per cent of AFLW and 40 per cent of AFL Indigenous and multicultural players reported they were unsatisfied with the way a racism incident was handled once it was reported.
In an attempt to make the industry more accountable, Marsh said the union would launch a whistleblower service, which would allow players to anonymously report an issue that they otherwise would feel uncomfortable raising.
“It’s the next evolution in making sure that people in the industry feel comfortable, if they’ve got an issue to talk about it if they feel as though they can’t do it one on one, whether it be with the club, with us, with the AFL,” said Marsh.
The AFLPA found the AFL lagged behind other sports in gender equity, including on pay and conditions, citing Cricket Australia’s 2017 deal achieving pay equity with the same base hourly rate for men and women.
To combat this in the ongoing CBA negotiations with the AFL, they enlisted gender equity expert Yolanda Beattie, who was an adviser to the Australian Cricketer’s Association and Cricket Australia on pay equity principles that support the landmark deal for female players.
Beattie said the next Collective Bargaining Agreement – in which the AFLPA are pushing for a joint agreement between the men’s and women’s players – would be a critical one for the industry to keep pace with its competitors.
“Other major sports have recognised the significant commercial upside potential of their women’s leagues and teams and taken huge steps towards gender and pay equity. The AFL risks falling well behind if it doesn’t do likewise,” said Beattie.
The AFL was contacted for comment.
Brisbane Lions star defender and union delegate Shannon Campbell said the biggest issues facing AFLW were time and pay.
Joanna Lin of the Magpies is tackled by Abbie Ballard of the Crows during the 2022 semi-final match at Unley Oval.Credit: AFL Photos
“Probably just the fact that a lot of us are still working and then come to train at the end of the day,” said Campbell.
“So, at some point that will change where we can purely focus on football but at the moment, obviously a few of us are still working either part-time, full-time or studying.”
The report also found inconsistencies in venue standards were evident across AFLW, with players finding many facilities for training and matches below a suitable standard.
Out of 33 venues surveyed, nine were rated between ‘very poor’ and ‘average’ for surface and/or facilities quality, including Box Hill City Oval, Wigan Oval and Henson Park, and half of the 12 venues rated between ‘good’ and ‘very good’ held only one game in the first half of 2022.
Campbell said overall the standard of grounds was mostly good for AFLW players, but there were a few which were substandard, which made it hard to perform at their maximum.
“Sometimes it’s a little bit hard when you’re put into a change room that’s only five metres by three metres, and you don’t have much room to kind of get up and move around,” said Campbell.
“Now that we’re getting a bit more support, through government funding and stuff like that, we’ll see that obviously increase through facilities, and we’ll get venues, such as here at Springfield, for all teams.”
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