More troubling allegations against Hawthorn have been revealed after sections of the club-commissioned report into its handling of First Nations players was leaked.
It comes as former Hawthorn player development manager Jason Burt broke his silence following reports of his involvement in alleged incidents involving First Nations players and their partners that are now being investigated.
The Herald Sun on Tuesday night released details from Cultural Safety Review: Of Past and Present Indigenous Players and Staff of the Hawthorn Football Club — a review that was conducted in August this year led by project manager Phil Egan.
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It was reported last week that a former Hawks assistant had reached out to the report’s authors to back up some allegations from the Indigenous ex-players and families, with their information and a signed statement part of the report handed to the AFL.
The Herald Sun on Tuesday revealed that an unnamed Hawks coach accused Burt, former coach Alastair Clarkson and former football bosses Chris Fagan and Mark Evans of operating the football department “like The Russian Mafia”.
The report further concluded that Clarkson, Fagan and Burt used “bullying and intimidation’’ against First Nations players and their partners between 2010 and 2016. Some incidents were so serious to “amount to human rights abuses’’.
“If you dare question their methods, you were frozen out,” the Hawks coach told the reviewers, according to the report.
Foxfooty.com.au does not suggest the allegations in the report are completely true and accurate, only that they have been made and are being investigated by other bodies.
The report includes testimony from three players’ partners, as well as another player. It states that “partners of players who have tabled the serious allegations were in the early stages of pregnancy, with two mothers losing their unborn child during these traumatic events’’.
The testimony of one partner said: “For three grown men (Clarkson, Fagan and Burt) to have walked into my house with no warning, and intimidate, trap and bully me full well knowing I’m carrying a child is just by no means acceptable.”
As revealed last week, one testimony claimed Clarkson encouraged a player for he and his partner to terminate their unborn child.
The Herald Sun released transcripts of the allegations made by former players and their partners, which you can read here.
The AFL is still assembling an independent panel to investigate the shocking claims made by former First Nations Hawthorn players and their partners, which was first revealed by the ABC last week.
Clarkson, who recently signed a five-year deal to coach North Melbourne, and Lions boss Fagan have both stood down from their roles while the AFL probe takes place.
Clarkson, who’s November 1 start date at the Kangaroos has been delayed, firmly defended himself against any claims of wrongdoing, while Fagan on Tuesday released a second statement to categorically deny the allegations.
“I confirm, as I said in my earlier statement, that I deny, categorically, the allegations of wrongdoing by me in relation to First Nations players at the Hawthorn Football Club, and that I intend to defend myself,” Fagan said.
Clarkson said last week: “The health, care and welfare of our players, staff and their families were always my highest priorities during my time at Hawthorn Football Club. I was therefore shocked by the extremely serious allegations reported in the media earlier today.
“I was not afforded any due process and I refute any allegation of wrongdoing or misconduct and look forward to the opportunity to be heard as part of the AFL external investigation.”
Burt, who’s taken indefinite leave from his current role at Melbourne private school Caulfield Grammar, on Tuesday night released a statement to “categorically deny the conduct attributed to me in the media”.
“It is difficult to comment more fully in circumstances where I have never seen the report despite my lawyer asking the Hawthorn Football Club and the AFL for a copy,” Burt told the Herald Sun.
“I am aggrieved Hawthorn saw fit to commission the report but did not give me the opportunity to respond to the allegations before the report was finalised and provided to the AFL.
“In my time at Hawthorn, the welfare of all players, including first nation players, was always my primary concern. A number of the first nation players lived in my home with my wife and children.
“It is my hope that the investigation to be conducted by the AFL is both fair and transparent, and that I will be given the opportunity to both give my account and test the accounts of those who have apparently made allegations against me.”
