Collingwood president Eddie McGuire concedes he should have chosen his words better when speaking about an internal report into systemic racism at the AFL club.
Key points:
- Eddie McGuire said the day the report was revealed was a “historic and proud day” for Collingwood
- McGuire said he should not have used the word “proud” and regretted that his comments were “interpreted that way”
- AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said the report into racism at Collingwood was “sobering and confronting”
Among other things, his proclamation that Monday was a “historic and proud day” for the club was widely criticised, including by AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan.
McGuire said he had wanted to acknowledge the work of the people who put the report together but he made a mistake.
“I got it wrong. I said it was a proud day for Collingwood, and I shouldn’t have,” McGuire said at the start of the club’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Tuesday.
“I did not mean we were proud of past instances of racism and the hurt that it caused. It’s been interpreted widely that way and I regret that deeply.
“The use of the word ‘proud’ was wrong.
He said the club had “fully intended to make public” the report before it was “prematurely” revealed by the media and the club scrambled to put together its public remarks.
Earlier on Tuesday, McLachlan said McGuire should have articulated his feelings better, but praised Collingwood’s “courageous” decision to commission the report in the first place.
“I would have articulated things differently. I would have used a different word. I thought that it was more sobering and confronting.
“I know from the conversation that I had with Ed that he’s committed to taking the club forward and implementing the recommendations.
“That’s where we need to focus the discussion — on holding the board and others to account in delivering on the recommendations, rather than looking back to the execution.”
McLachlan said he was disappointed by the tone of the conversation about the release of the report but supported McGuire’s commitment to enacting the change laid out in the report.
“This is my last year of 23 years as president of this club and I want to leave it knowing that I have helped implement the next stage of changes we have committed to on this historic mission,” McGuire said at the AGM.
“I commit to a year of hard work to implement these recommendations so we become an even more inclusive club.”
In standing by McGuire, McLachlan said that tackling racism in football was not just an issue for one individual to face, but rather the entire industry.
“[McGuire] was clear to me that he was looking forward and he was proud that they were addressing their past, and there was a series of recommendations to take them forward to do better that were endorsed by the board,” he said.
“The other part about this conversation is that it is going to require a whole football club to deliver on this. This is a serious undertaking that the Collingwood Football Club board has embarked on.
“It’s going to require the whole board, the whole club, the footy department. It makes commitments on behalf of its supporters.
“This has never been about an individual. It needs to be a whole of club approach, and frankly, a whole of industry approach there.”
Most notable among those criticising McGuire’s initial remarks was former Collingwood player Héritier Lumumba, whose allegations of racism at the club were a driving factor in the commissioning of the report.
Lumumba said the club’s response was “a clear case of cowardice”, and accused it of being “completely tone deaf to where the world is at right now”.
