Former Melbourne Football Club president Glen Bartlett has accused new president Brad Green and other directors of defaming him and his partner in statements issued by the club, one of which was retweeted by Green.
Bartlett’s statement of claim in his defamation case against Green, former club president Kate Roffey and the club’s board of directors was released by the Federal Court on Tuesday.
Bartlett takes aim at statements issued by the Demons on August 15 and 16 last year. The first – which took umbrage at claims the club alleged were made by Bartlett’s partner, Victoria Laspas, in a complaint to WorkSafe Victoria – was published in the Herald Sun and other media outlets.
In court: Glen Bartlett is seeking damages.Credit: Getty Images
The second was an MFC board statement published on the club’s website and social media channels, and sent to members, in which the board rejected allegations about premiership coach Simon Goodwin and his behaviour.
The claims were “unequivocally” denied by the club and the coach.
“The board of the Melbourne Football Club unequivocally refute the unsubstantiated, historical and outrageous accusations against Simon Goodwin and other club leaders as published in today’s Herald Sun. The untested and unproven claims were made by Ms Laspas in a statement she prepared to support her partner, Mr Bartlett, in legal proceedings that were discontinued by him. The views expressed by Ms Laspas are her recollection of historical events and are in direct contrast with the recollections of the Melbourne Football Club Board,” the Demons said in the August 16 statement, which Bartlett reproduced in his statement of claim.
In the statement of claim released on Tuesday, Bartlett said Greenwas “the holder and controller of an X (formerly Twitter) account under the account handle of @bradgreen18”, and that he had reposted the second statement “on X, where he has approximately 10,700 followers”.
Bartlett argues in the document that, as a result of the statements, he and his partner had “suffered serious harm” and “have been greatly injured in their credit, character and reputation” and “have been brought into public hatred, scandal, odium and contempt”.
In his statement of claim, Bartlett argues that “the statements identified the second applicant [Laspas] as a complainant to WorkSafe, when she had not been previously so identified, and such disclosure was wrongful and has caused the second applicant significant personal distress”.
The Demons had alleged “at no point has Victoria Laspas been a volunteer or employee of the club”, but Bartlett say she “was a volunteer sitting on the MFC Women’s Committee during 2013 and 2014”.
Bartlett is seeking damages and an injunction from what he argues are any further potential defamatory comments made by the club.
The Demons were contacted for comment on Tuesday night. Bartlett did not wish to comment.
Bartlett served as the Demons’ president from 2013 until his sudden departure in April 2021. He was replaced by Roffey, who stood down this year amid the Christian Petracca drama.
Separately, Bartlett is suing the AFL in an escalation of the disputes he has had with various industry figures over the past three years. He filed a statement of claim on Thursday last week against the league through law firm Clayton Utz.
Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.
