Ex-Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett says he won’t be “shamed into apologising” to former Hawks players and staff as the club faces the prospect of a significant compensation bill.
The AFL in May ended its probe into allegations of historic racism at Hawthorn, with “no adverse findings” made against former Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson, ex-football boss Chris Fagan and former welfare manager Jason Burt.
However the AFL left the door ajar to punish the Hawks over their commissioning and oversight of their culture review. That investigation, which is being run by AFL general counsel Stephen Meade, is now in its final stages.
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The Hawks are also involved in a Human Rights Commission case, which was launched by the ex-club players and their families earlier this year after they confirmed their identities in a bombshell letter.
The Age on Tuesday night reported Clarkson and Fagan were seeking public apologies from the Hawks over the professional and private damage they‘d suffered as a result of the club’s handling of the Binmada report. Sources told the publication the AFL would instruct Hawthorn to “make good” with the ex-club staffers, as well as former First Nations players and staff.
The Age also reported the Hawks were facing a combined compensation bill of over $1 million, but added any AFL penalty could be alleviated should the club be willing to financially compensate their former senior football staffers and Indigenous families.
But Kennett, who took initial allegations to the AFL before ordering a cultural review, hit out at the prospect of significant financial compensation and apologies, suggesting they “would open the club up to further claims”.
“I’m not going to be shamed into apologising and I have to say this is not a great start for the AFL administration,” Kennett told The Age.
“It would be totally wrong for the AFL to penalise Hawthorn and it would be totally wrong for the club to use members’ funds to pay for something it did not do. This is not Hawthorn’s error. This is not Hawthorn’s fault.”
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Clarkson, who faced some of the more severe claims, was granted time away from North Melbourne in May to look after his mental wellbeing amid the investigation into historical racism allegations at Hawthorn. Fagan and Burt also took a leave of absence from their roles at the Brisbane Lions and Caulfield Grammar respectively after the Binmada report was leaked to the media in September 2022.
Hawthorn president Andrew Gowers told The Age it’d “always been my intention” for the club to make amends with the three former Hawthorn staffers – who’ve always denied any wrongdoing – the former Indigenous players and their partners involved in the report.
Gowers didn’t elaborate on what a public apology would look like. He said the matter of financial compensation was “tricky” and “complex” but added: “I’m confident that we will reach a resolution and that is adequate and acceptable.”
