One of the women to have made sickening accusations against senior figures at the Hawthorn Football Club has announced she will not co-operate with the AFL’s investigation into the scandal.
The AFL last month announced the terms of reference for its investigation into the bombshell accusations included in a report that followed an external review of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s experiences with the Hawks.
The AFL a month ago announced Bernard Quinn KC would lead the investigation into claims of “racist behaviour, bullying and other inappropriate conduct” by Hawthorn employees — particularly towards First Nations players — between 2008 to 2016. Quinn will be joined by fellow panellists Jacqualyn Turfrey , Tim Goodwin and Julie Buxton.
It has for weeks been reported that several people to have made the accusations against the football club had concerns about being involved in the investigation process because of the clear conflict of interest for the AFL.
Despite the league’s insistence the investigation would be entirely independent, one of the women has now announced she will be taking a stand by refusing to participate.
In a statement released by Marque Lawyers, the legal team acting for one of the accusers, a women referred to as “Amy” says: “I could either stay numb and silent, or I could find my voice and play my part in the struggle to try and create safety and protection for our young ones who would inevitably face these systems.”
The statement claims the AFL ignored the woman when establishing the framework for the investigation, her with no option but to leave away.
Marque Lawyers claim the AFL gave “Amy” just two days to address the terms of reference before they were established.
A woman referred to as “Amy” by the ABC after Hawthorn’s external report was leaked in September, made troubling accusations against the football club, premiership-winning coach Alastair Clarkson and now-Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan.
The ABC reported Amy’s partner, referred to as “Ian”, was told to get rid of his unborn child and partner by figures at the football club. The footballer also told the ABC he was “manipulated” into changing his SIM card “so there was no further contact between my family and me”.
Clarkson, who now coaches North Melbourne, and Fagan have been cleared to resume work with their football clubs.
The statement released by Marque Lawyers also revealed the further traumatic “Amy” has relived since the bombshell report first made headlines.
“Amy has had to work through the guilt she feels at having stayed silent back then; that perhaps, had she said something, she could have prevented it happening to others,” the legal team says in the statement.
“Although, as she says, “it’s a little hard to speak up when it feels like your voice box has been pulled out of your throat.”
The statement says the investigation report “will be the property of the AFL”.
“The process which the AFL has determined to pursue is not independent of it,” the statement claims.
“While we cast no aspersions on the nominated investigation panel members, the entire process will be conducted under the control of the AFL and for the AFL’s purposes.
“If the AFL is genuinely concerned to unearth and expose the full depth of racist mistreatment of First Nations players and their families by one or more of its clubs, then it should engage an external body with appropriate expertise, operating completely independently of the AFL, to conduct a wide-ranging inquiry into the systemic racist abuses that the revelations regarding Hawthorn have exposed.
“Instead, the AFL’s own lawyers are assisting the investigationpanel and corresponding with parties on its behalf.”
News.com.au has reached out to the AFL for comment.
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