Eddie McGuire should not stand down, says Premier Daniel Andrews

“…Whether it’s cricket, we’ve seen some pretty nasty incidents this summer, or it’s Aussie rules footy, or any part of our Victorian community and indeed beyond just Victoria, we all have to acknowledge that this is a fact of life, and it’s shameful. We’ve got to do more, all of us.

“I shouldn’t say ‘a fact of life’. It is a reality. It is real, and whether it’s people in the Grampians doing some just awful stuff a couple of weekends ago, or whether it’s the more casual embedded bigotry, it’s harmful, it’s shameful, and we need to do everything we can to change that, and that starts with leadership, and I think running away from challenges is not the way you deliver better outcomes. But again I would just say you’ve got to acknowledge these things first, before you can ever hope to put a plan in place.”

He suggested once the report had been commissioned, it would be important for a leader to see the issue through.

“And I think that’s exactly why there’s been a process gone through,” he said.

“And that’s why there was a media conference yesterday. That’s why I’m sure not just the leadership, but everyone in that club, and every club, I should say, will be working as hard as they can to change that culture, that culture exists in many different places.

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“I think we’d be naive to think that it’s just one footy club, or it’s just one period of time, or it’s just one code. This is in our community. And we all of us have to do better. And, again, I’ll leave others to make their own judgments. But I would have thought, if you commission a report, you front it, and you’ve committed to doing what you can to fix it. That’s a good thing, isn’t it? Not the issue. But the response?”

Andrews later reiterated: “You asked me should he [McGuire] go, I’m saying no, that doesn’t make any sense to me, that’s running from a challenge, instead of dealing with it.”

Less than 24 hours earlier, Greens senator Lidia Thorpe had called for McGuire to step down ahead of schedule.

In a statement, she said: “Collingwood has been rightly singled out for its appalling structural racism. As one person we spoke to said, ‘If you look at every high-profile incident of racism in the game, Collingwood is there somewhere.’ And it’s just not good enough.”

“We won’t forget how he [McGuire] treated Adam Goodes. We won’t forget how he treated Heritier Lumumba,” Senator Thorpe said.

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The review found there was an unhealthy culture of putting the interests of individuals ahead of the club.

McGuire said he did not know if that reference was aimed at him, but said he still believed he was the best person to lead the club for the next year and “drive through” the reports recommendations.