Football personality Kane Cornes has apologised “unreservedly” to the AFL umpires at the centre of the Lachie Schultz concussion saga for falsely accusing them of misleading the league.
Cornes read a prepared statement on SEN on Thursday afternoon.
Kane Cornes.Credit: Getty Images
It was reported this week that the four umpires who officiated in last month’s Fremantle-Collingwood match – Simon Meredith, Craig Fleer, Justin Power and Martin Rodger – were considering legal action over some of the public commentary that followed.
“On May 14th edition of SEN Sports Day I accused field umpires who were officiating that round nine match between Fremantle and Collingwood of misleading the AFL and that they had not seen the incident in which Collingwood’s Lachie Schultz suffered a concussion,” Cornes said on Thursday.
“I made some of those comments having seen two initial statements made by the AFL with regards to the matter on Friday May the ninth, and then also on Tuesday May the 13th. And further comments after seeing the additional statement made by the AFL, readdressing their initial statements.
“Now in light of the additional statement, which made it clear that the umpires had not misled the AFL, I acknowledge that the allegations made by me on this show were false and I withdraw them. I understand the umpires truthfully told the AFL that they saw the incident and did not mislead the AFL. So I unreservedly apologise to Simon Meredith, Craig Fleer, Justin Power and Martin Roger for making these false allegations.”
A statement to Nine News by the AFL Umpires Association on Monday did not name anybody but referred to “commentary that casts aspersions on an individual’s integrity and professional competence”.
On the night of May 13, five days after Schultz was concussed and play continued while he lay injured on the ground, the AFL’s football operations boss Laura Kane wrongly claimed the umpires misled the league about whether they saw the injured player.
The following day, Kane cleared the umpires of any wrongdoing and cited a miscommunication with the umpiring department for her earlier statement.
Kane did not apologise to the umpires but admitted the league’s processes failed.
She said the league took “full responsibility” for that failing.
“We have determined there was a miscommunication from members of the umpiring department, not the field umpires,” Kane said in a statement at the time.
Umpires Association chief executive Rob Kerr said in the statement on Monday that the umpires had been “advised as to their legal rights in relation to some of the commentary that followed the Lachlan Schultz concussion issue.
“Being falsely accused of lying and misleading the AFL goes beyond simply questioning the management of the actual incident,” he said.
“Public commentary that casts aspersions on an individual’s integrity and professional competence, particularly when that is core to the role they perform, harms their personal and professional standing and it is reasonable to consider how that can be rectified.”
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