Everywhere the Goyter goes things go to *smile*. It’s no coincidence
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Gill’s legacy
- Thread starter The Kop
- Start date
Love Stokes. Just helped the mighty Gordon Eagles, nee Grasshoppers, to a flag a couple of weeks ago. Stepped aside for the GF so a local could play.
Back on topic, can't read the paywalled article, but yes 'plenty of warning signs', and GMs response to the Goodes debacle was woeful, tacitly approved racism.
Back on topic, can't read the paywalled article, but yes 'plenty of warning signs', and GMs response to the Goodes debacle was woeful, tacitly approved racism.
Fantastic article, sums up the AFL inaction and incompetence in relation to first nations people perfectly. Proud to be a Tiger supporter that has a leadership group that genuinely supports our indigenous brothers and sisters. The opposite to Gil and his cronies.Apparently not a view held by Matthew Stokes
Goyder and McLachlan need to take responsibility
The AFL have had plenty of warning signs that issues surrounding Indigenous people were not being properly considered, yet little has been done to ensure Indigenous people have a real voice in the game.www.theage.com.au
OPINION
Goyder and McLachlan need to take responsibility
By Mathew Stokes
September 21, 2022 — 8.10pm
Within hours of a report appearing on the ABC website that contained allegations made about the way former Hawthorn officials treated Indigenous players, the AFL held a press conference.
The seriousness of the allegations demanded they do so but it was no coincidence from my vantage point that it took a non-Indigenous journalist’s story in the mainstream media to prompt action when Indigenous people have raised all sorts of issues relating to their treatment for decades.
Of course, those allegations are yet to be tested and the people at the centre of them deserve as much as anyone the right to have their version of events heard, and it sits uncomfortably with me that they weren’t afforded the opportunity to do that as soon as or before the report was tabled.
But that does not absolve the AFL Commission, led by unseen chairman Richard Goyder and the executive led by AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan, from the harsh reality that the game has a systemic issue with racism that has not been addressed under their watch.
Following the AFL apology in 2019 that followed the treatment Adam Goodes received at the hands of fans, and the limp response from most of the game’s leaders to the booing of the Swans champion, alarm bells have rung every year that the situation relating to the way Indigenous issues are managed was not improving.
In the past few years there has been no leadership or accountability, merely repeated promises to learn as the game lurches from one outrage to the next.
We have had the following issues and reports either washed away or managed, or there has been a fall person to deflect attention from the AFL’s inaction:
2017: The Indigenous Past Players report.
2020: Former Saint Robbie Muir’s experience, as reported by the ABC.
2020: Indigenous players told they must receive more injections than non-Indigenous players to enter Queensland hubs.
2020: The Peter Jackson review into the AFL’s approach to Indigenous issues and their support for Indigenous players.
2021: Collingwood’s Do Better report leaked and then reviewed by the AFL.
2021: Adelaide forward Taylor Walker banned for six weeks for racial vilification.
2022: Norm Smith medallist Cyril Rioli explains why he turned his back on Hawthorn and the game.
2022: Eddie Betts’ revelations about the Adelaide pre-season camp, and the club found to have broken no rules.
2022: A lack of consultation over the minute’s silence after Queen’s death.
The Peter Jackson review, for which the respected former club CEO spoke to many Indigenous people in the game, has never seen the light of day.
There was, eventually, Indigenous liaison officers employed at every club, and the AFL’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Council was revamped with greater alignment across the industry promised.
Still, the list gets longer as we stagger from incident to incident without improved systems or real accountability from those at the top, such as Goyder, who we never hear from or see when controversial issues arise.
Now we have a four-person independent panel set up to examine these allegations. Again, we are at the bottom of the cliff trying to catch people after the damage has been done.
All day I have heard the words “shocking” and “disgusting” used to describe what is contained in the media report, but Aboriginal people and players have been pointing to systemic issues that allow such things to occur for years.
Yet no one has satisfactorily acted upon concerns, or we are seen to be whinging, or there is an excuse that a decision was made under pressure, or there are concerns expressed about the mental health of a person involved.
No wonder many Aboriginal people in the game are reluctant to speak up because they know they will be subject to gaslighting or otherwise have their time wasted.
Every club should be open to a report on the experiences of their Indigenous past players and the AFL should be held accountable more than anyone. They are the governing body of this game. If Hawthorn have failed, the AFL has failed.
I did not want to hear today that McLachlan had spoken to this person and that person, or that the issues were broader than football because football has, like the country, had the chance to address racism and they haven’t.
It would have been nice to hear him facing questions from Indigenous as well as non-Indigenous reporters to get a cross-section of perspectives on what mattered most.
What matters most is that we address the issues that keep arising so that the hurt and pain that is being inflicted upon people via their connection to the game does not occur. The questions raised about Hawthorn must be rigorously addressed to get to the truth.
But the game can’t ignore the need for serious action led by the Commission and involving the AFL.
It’s about doing the right thing, not doing better.
Goyder and McLachlan need to take responsibility
By Mathew Stokes
September 21, 2022 — 8.10pm
Within hours of a report appearing on the ABC website that contained allegations made about the way former Hawthorn officials treated Indigenous players, the AFL held a press conference.
The seriousness of the allegations demanded they do so but it was no coincidence from my vantage point that it took a non-Indigenous journalist’s story in the mainstream media to prompt action when Indigenous people have raised all sorts of issues relating to their treatment for decades.
Of course, those allegations are yet to be tested and the people at the centre of them deserve as much as anyone the right to have their version of events heard, and it sits uncomfortably with me that they weren’t afforded the opportunity to do that as soon as or before the report was tabled.
But that does not absolve the AFL Commission, led by unseen chairman Richard Goyder and the executive led by AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan, from the harsh reality that the game has a systemic issue with racism that has not been addressed under their watch.
Following the AFL apology in 2019 that followed the treatment Adam Goodes received at the hands of fans, and the limp response from most of the game’s leaders to the booing of the Swans champion, alarm bells have rung every year that the situation relating to the way Indigenous issues are managed was not improving.
In the past few years there has been no leadership or accountability, merely repeated promises to learn as the game lurches from one outrage to the next.
We have had the following issues and reports either washed away or managed, or there has been a fall person to deflect attention from the AFL’s inaction:
2017: The Indigenous Past Players report.
2020: Former Saint Robbie Muir’s experience, as reported by the ABC.
2020: Indigenous players told they must receive more injections than non-Indigenous players to enter Queensland hubs.
2020: The Peter Jackson review into the AFL’s approach to Indigenous issues and their support for Indigenous players.
2021: Collingwood’s Do Better report leaked and then reviewed by the AFL.
2021: Adelaide forward Taylor Walker banned for six weeks for racial vilification.
2022: Norm Smith medallist Cyril Rioli explains why he turned his back on Hawthorn and the game.
2022: Eddie Betts’ revelations about the Adelaide pre-season camp, and the club found to have broken no rules.
2022: A lack of consultation over the minute’s silence after Queen’s death.
The Peter Jackson review, for which the respected former club CEO spoke to many Indigenous people in the game, has never seen the light of day.
There was, eventually, Indigenous liaison officers employed at every club, and the AFL’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Council was revamped with greater alignment across the industry promised.
Still, the list gets longer as we stagger from incident to incident without improved systems or real accountability from those at the top, such as Goyder, who we never hear from or see when controversial issues arise.
Now we have a four-person independent panel set up to examine these allegations. Again, we are at the bottom of the cliff trying to catch people after the damage has been done.
All day I have heard the words “shocking” and “disgusting” used to describe what is contained in the media report, but Aboriginal people and players have been pointing to systemic issues that allow such things to occur for years.
Yet no one has satisfactorily acted upon concerns, or we are seen to be whinging, or there is an excuse that a decision was made under pressure, or there are concerns expressed about the mental health of a person involved.
No wonder many Aboriginal people in the game are reluctant to speak up because they know they will be subject to gaslighting or otherwise have their time wasted.
Every club should be open to a report on the experiences of their Indigenous past players and the AFL should be held accountable more than anyone. They are the governing body of this game. If Hawthorn have failed, the AFL has failed.
I did not want to hear today that McLachlan had spoken to this person and that person, or that the issues were broader than football because football has, like the country, had the chance to address racism and they haven’t.
It would have been nice to hear him facing questions from Indigenous as well as non-Indigenous reporters to get a cross-section of perspectives on what mattered most.
What matters most is that we address the issues that keep arising so that the hurt and pain that is being inflicted upon people via their connection to the game does not occur. The questions raised about Hawthorn must be rigorously addressed to get to the truth.
But the game can’t ignore the need for serious action led by the Commission and involving the AFL.
It’s about doing the right thing, not doing better.
Hopefully I got the full text of the article pasted correctly.
Brilliant article by Stokes, nails it.
The GM and the AFL did a brilliant job of shrugging off the Adelaide Camp response and review. Just issued a half-arsed vague apology without actually responding to any questions about what they did and why and what they could do differently, hoped it would go away and it did. Until now.
Jungle drums are beating, fed politicians calling for a full wide scale review. Getting out of the AFLs hands. This could be the AFL's Fitzgerald Inquiry moment.
The GM and the AFL did a brilliant job of shrugging off the Adelaide Camp response and review. Just issued a half-arsed vague apology without actually responding to any questions about what they did and why and what they could do differently, hoped it would go away and it did. Until now.
Jungle drums are beating, fed politicians calling for a full wide scale review. Getting out of the AFLs hands. This could be the AFL's Fitzgerald Inquiry moment.
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That Stokes article is brilliantly direct.
Shines the light perfectly on an organisation who's morals and agenda is and has been completely wrong.
Money and image before all else.
This failure is now coming home to roost in the biggest of ways.
Shines the light perfectly on an organisation who's morals and agenda is and has been completely wrong.
Money and image before all else.
This failure is now coming home to roost in the biggest of ways.
Will add though, Fagan and Clarkson do deserve the full right of reply.
Leysy's hunch for a few reasons is that when it is all unearthed Fagan might come out of this Ok.
Clarkson not so.
Either way it won't absolve then AFL and it's commission on its inaction on racism within the game.
Leysy's hunch for a few reasons is that when it is all unearthed Fagan might come out of this Ok.
Clarkson not so.
Either way it won't absolve then AFL and it's commission on its inaction on racism within the game.
For mine, assuming the report holds true, I doubt much comes of it in which case I would strongly support all Indigenous players if they did a sit down or walk off next year.
Agree - the AFL has been all talk no action on racisim for the last decade. Taking on the soft targets in the crowd with their behavioral awareness officers and leaving the real cause of the damage to get off scott free. How did Adelaide FC with their repeated offences get away with it. Lollingwood got a tut tut from head office and that was it.
The AFL agenda under Gilligan has been bury anything that is damaging, deny deny deny and look after ourselves at all costs irrespective of the cost to others. Pee off Gilligan and Goyter your *smile* culture and boys club mentality has no place in our game.
Already the journo’s reporting on certain matters is being disputed, and that where Fagan’s involvement in this ‘abortion meeting’ is concerned, that he wasn’t even there.
Who the hell would know. Lot of people going in boots and all. Suspect the Egan report will be bad enough on its own without the journo’s added claims, but I’m gonna wait until this independent enquiry is completed just the same before going full throttle.
The claims in the stories concerning 3 different players, their partners and families is so similar that I find it very difficult not to believe these terrible behaviors have occurred.
The Hawks staff will band together and get their stories straight in denial and likely it will be a Gilligan special negotiated outcome. The staff will admit to some of the lesser claims, the serious claims will be dropped and a payout to players impacted will follow. The AFLs aim will be to make it go away as quickly as possible and that will likely be what happens.
The Hawks staff will band together and get their stories straight in denial and likely it will be a Gilligan special negotiated outcome. The staff will admit to some of the lesser claims, the serious claims will be dropped and a payout to players impacted will follow. The AFLs aim will be to make it go away as quickly as possible and that will likely be what happens.
McLachlan just interviewed on 360, dropped the most outrageous stupid brainless comment of his entire career, and obviously that is saying something. He just said Robbie Williams was better than Lionel Richie. He may as well have said Shane Woewodin is better than Royce Hart. He should be held to account for that *smile*. It cannot stand.
Unless it goes to court with cross examination and a jury the only outcome HAS to be a negotiated one as it will be a simple “they said, they deny”.
True. Never seen Robbie or even Woewodin dancing on the ceiling.
