Collingwood Football Club has launched an official investigation into Héritier Lumumba’s claims of a culture of racist jokes at the club, nearly three years after the former player first made the allegations public.
Lumumba, who spent 10 years as a Magpies player, said earlier this month he has no intention of speaking with the club until it publicly acknowledges his claims, after coach Nathan Buckley said he wanted to reach out to him.
That offer came just hours after Collingwood and Richmond players had come together in the middle of the MCG and taken a knee in a show of support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
On Tuesday, Collingwood said its integrity committee would open a file on the allegations, including that Lumumba was nicknamed “chimp” and that the club failed to support him.
Collingwood director Peter Murphy will chair the committee, with chief executive Mark Anderson also part of the inquiry. Another director, Jodie Sizer, said the club understood Lumumba’s claims are serious and wanted to treat them as such.
“As a board we have come together and unanimously agreed we need to take action,” she said. “From my perspective the whole of Australia is on an important journey as it deals with racism, the impacts of racism and considers what, as a nation, we want to be and are to become.
“Collingwood is also on its own journey and important to both quests is truth telling. Understanding the truth, owning the truth and supporting those in sharing their truths is a key next step for any action.”
Lumumba accused the club of “shifting the narrative” in its claim of trying to reach out to him in recent weeks but the club says it will continue its attempts to contact him.
Lumumba left Collingwood at the end of 2014 before finishing his 223-game career with Melbourne.
