Hawthorn racism review

[stevoswan]

Just to complicate matters further, Phil Egan has been arrested as part of a historical fraud investigation at a Victorian Aboriginal organisation.

"Former Richmond footballer Phil Egan was arrested yesterday and interviewed by police.

He has been released and, police say, is expected to be charged on summons with fraud-related offences.

Mr Egan has again denied any wrongdoing during his time as CEO of the Murray Valley Aboriginal Cooperative [MVAC] in north-west Victoria from 2010 to 2012.

Mr Egan said he was cooperating with police and said the arrest was part of a scheduled meeting with investigators yesterday."

I won't put the link up as ABC links tend to freeze threads but it is on the ABC News website.

This shouldn't dilute or change the importance or accuracy of his Hawthorn report.....let's hope the Hawks or the AFL don't try to do this with these new revelations.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-15/author-of-hawthorn-racism-report-arrested/101974828

[liz]

I won't put the link up as ABC links tend to freeze threads but it is on the ABC News website.

Not if you follow the instructions on how to post links.

How to paste links to articles on other sites

[stevoswan]

This makes interesting reading.....Jason Burt seems to be a liar, according to Dr Judy Courtin, a lawyer representing two of the indigenous complainants.

"Former Hawks staffer Jason Burt says he 'overstepped the mark' in incident with First Nations player, but has nothing to apologise for": https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-...view/102401384/102401384

[Sandridge]

'Imperfect resolution' as Hawthorn Hawks racism probe ends, no charges for Alastair Clarkson, Chris Fagan, Jason Burt

[stevoswan]

Looks like a whitewash to me. Who'd have thunk it?! Gil's final slap in the face of our indigenous players.....and Sir Doug Nicholls Round has barely cooled.

Civil lawsuits coming....no indigenous player will bother ever trying to get justice via the league again for a racism related event. Goodsey must be happy he's not part of this Victorian farce anymore.....seriously.

[liz]

Looks like a whitewash to me. Who'd have thunk it?! Gil's final slap in the face of our indigenous players.....and Sir Doug Nicholls Round has barely cooled.

Civil lawsuits coming....no indigenous player will bother ever trying to get justice via the league again for a racism related event. Goodsey must be happy he's not part of this Victorian farce anymore.....seriously.

It's certainly unfortunate timing by the AFL.

I see Chris Fagan has issued a statement, claiming to be vindicated by this outcome. It's published in the article below.

“I stand vindicated by it”: Fagan releases statement in aftermath of Hawthorn investigation ending

It's very hard to know what to think. McLachlan's words in his press conference were carefully chosen. He stressed that the AFL only has the power to bring charges in respect of breaches of AFL rules. It's not apparent to me that the AFL would have explicit rules in place that covered the behaviours/events that were described in the ABC article and the leaked Hawthorn report.

I claim no knowledge of what happened, but I don't see the way that this investigation has been brought to a close vindicates any of the parties (or implicates them) in respect to ethical assessments of what may or may not have happened. Mark Robinson has stated that he doesn't believe the three "accused" were ever spoken to by the investigative body to either explicitly deny any of the events happened, or to put them in a context that mitigates the horror that I felt when I read the initial allegations.

Only this week, we had Jason Burt speak with a journalist to confirm that the visit to one couple's home factually occurred, even though he disputed some aspects of the account we read. It is relevant that the couple involved in this incident didn't "sign up" to the AFL's investigation, so it's not directly relevant to today's AFL statement. But it does demonstrate that none of this is straightforward.


I do ask anyone who wishes to comment on this to be careful with their words (for legal reasons), and for anyone reading posts on the topic (including this one I've just written) to contact me or one of the other moderators if you think it might have overstepped the mark in terms of what can and cannot be said.

[Mel_C]

No surprise here. And just in time for Gill to head overseas on his European holiday.

How can there be any outcome to the investigation when neither side was interviewed? What did they do for 6 months?

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Billable hours

[Roadrunner]

Billable hours

It is difficult to understand how a so called independent panel can take 6 plus months, during which no face to face interviews were conducted ( if I’ve understood correctly) but only written submissions from the complainants.

It is beyond comprehension………

How on earth are we ever going to know the truth? The football community and moreover the whole country is entitled to know what really happened, such is the gravity of the allegations.
Whatever happens from here on, surely our great game has been brought into disrepute, not only by the allegations but also by how this sorry saga has been handled right from the beginning.

[waswan]

AFL told to wrap it up before they start their Ambassador Role on behalf of the Federal Government for the Voice

[stevoswan]

No surprise here. And just in time for Gill to head overseas on his European holiday.

How can there be any outcome to the investigation when neither side was interviewed? What did they do for 6 months?

Hoped it would all die down.....then got Clarkson to have a sook and get everyone's sympathy.

[barry]

It is difficult to understand how a so called independent panel can take 6 plus months, during which no face to face interviews were conducted ( if I’ve understood correctly) but only written submissions from the complainants.

It is beyond comprehension………

How on earth are we ever going to know the truth? The football community and moreover the whole country is entitled to know what really happened, such is the gravity of the allegations.
Whatever happens from here on, surely our great game has been brought into disrepute, not only by the allegations but also by how this sorry saga has been handled right from the beginning.

It could just be that no party really wanted the AFL appointed ' independent
Panel', not even the accusors, and so nobody cooperated with them, and it had no power to make them.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

I think the last word should go to Sir Humphrey Appleby "enquiries are for setting up, not for actually conducting"

[Roadrunner]

It could just be that no party really wanted the AFL appointed ' independent
Panel', not even the accusors, and so nobody cooperated with them, and it had no power to make them.

If so, what was the point of the panel in the first place? The allegations were very serious- full and exhaustive investigations were called for. We know nothing more than we did 6+ months ago!

Apart from the 3 named not having broken any AFL rules……….Totally underwhelming by all concerned at the AFL and Hawthorn.

[giant]

I think the last word should go to Sir Humphrey Appleby "enquiries are for setting up, not for actually conducting"

Gold.