AFLPA slams 'flawed' Hawks racism investigation

1 year ago 107

The AFL Players' Association has torched the AFL's handling of its probe into allegations of humanities racism astatine Hawthorn, saying the typical assemblage held sedate interest for the process from the beginning.

On Tuesday night, main enforcement Gillon McLachlan said the AFL had reached an statement with the families and their representatives progressive successful allegations of mistreatment of First Nation's players astatine Hawthorn with nary adverse findings against Alastair Clarkson, Chris Fagan and Jason Burt.

In a connection attributed to AFLPA CEO Paul Marsh, the typical assemblage claimed the externally commissioned study by Hawthorn and the consequent autarkic probe by the AFL did much harm than good.

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"As an industry, we person ineligible and motivation duties to our players – past, present, and aboriginal – to guarantee they are physically, mentally, and culturally harmless and respected," Marsh said connected Wednesday.

The AFL Players’ Association voiced its enactment for its "impacted" members. (Getty)

"The allegations raised by players and their families arsenic portion of Hawthorn's Binmada study were highly superior and disturbing successful quality and required an independent, wide-ranging, well-resourced and culturally harmless process."

Marsh admitted the AFLPA was troubled by the probe pursuing its announcement past September, labelling it "flawed".

"The AFLPA had superior concerns with the AFL's process from the outset. We raised those concerns with the AFL formally, and made our views known publicly," helium said.

"While acknowledging the complexity of this issue, successful our view, the probe process was flawed.

"The investigative process was not genuinely autarkic of the AFL, arsenic the AFL retained, and yet exercised their extended rights and controls. There was besides a deficiency of clarity for participants arsenic to the process and imaginable remedies.

"Our manufacture indispensable get amended astatine preventing and responding to racism and different cardinal quality rights concerns."

Marsh announced that together, the AFL and AFLW players, with the AFLPA, had projected a quality rights argumentation and model to the AFL arsenic portion of the existent CBA negotiations.

"Our attack seeks to heighten collaboration crossed our manufacture connected the cardinal issues impacting our people, including the extortion of rights and entree to remedy, to make an situation wherever everyone feels safe," helium said.

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"The AFLPA's Human Rights Steering Committee and Indigenous Advisory Board volition play an progressive relation successful informing our ongoing enactment successful these areas and we judge our manufacture has an accidental to enactment much intimately unneurotic to code these quality rights issues for the betterment of the manufacture and our radical moving forward.

"Until this enactment is done, we clasp sizeable fears that players and different members of our manufacture who endure racism, sexism oregon different forms of exclusion oregon favoritism volition beryllium hesitant to rise concerns oregon stock their experiences."

Marsh acknowledged the AFL's committedness to respective initiatives successful airy of the termination of the probe and pledged the AFLPA's enactment for these actions.

"We person asked the AFL for a wide timeline, process and plan, arsenic good arsenic further accusation connected the further resources it intends to perpetrate to portion undertaking these initiatives and we telephone connected the AFL to enactment successful concern with the AFLPA connected the design, implementation, monitoring, and reporting of these initiatives."

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