The symbolism could not have been more painstaking. Decked in a black-and-white ensemble, blood of the very same colours flowing through his veins, Eddie MGuire fronted the media and sought to find areas of grey when there was none. Straight-faced, McGuire insisted he was not the president of a racist club when the Do Better report, its findings writ large in black and white, suggested precisely the opposite.
This is true to form for McGuire and the club he has governed for more than two decades. Allegations of systemic prejudice at the AFL club have been doing the rounds for years. The Magpies’ modus operandi has forever been to deny and deflect when confronted with claims of racism, to protect the brand first and foremost. Whether going in to bat for himself or his club, McGuire became the master of damage control. But now there can be nowhere to hide.
Collingwood should be commended for commissioning the report, produced by University of Technology Sydney’s distinguished professor, Yuwaalaraay woman Larissa Behrendt. These are baby steps on the pathway to a brighter future. But if the giant strides are taken towards the report’s natural conclusion, the club might be warned to embrace what it wished for. There can be no rosy future without a past that has been earnestly addressed. When it comes to McGuire and any other figure that wilfully, or ignorantly, enabled a culture of racism at Collingwood, the time for accountability has arrived.
Up to now, the goings on at Collingwood have been matters of hearsay. It has been left to the likes of Héritier Lumumba to draw attention to the funk emanating from the Holden Centre. Up to now the likes of Lumumba had more to lose than gain. But now, with details of a club riddled with racism officially laid bare, this has become bigger than Collingwood. It is no longer the Magpies’ reputation that is taking a beating, but the game’s also.
This is at once a test and a rare opportunity for the AFL. It is not the governing body’s way to meddle directly in the affairs of its affiliates, but this goes beyond matters of governance or protocol. The fact is, the AFL has sat idly by while Collingwood has sat idly by as vulnerable members of minority ethnic groups have been vilified and ridiculed at their place of work. The veneer of inclusivity and mutual respect which both Collingwood and the AFL claim to hold dear has been exposed as fraudulent.
This is the time for action, not rhetoric. The Do Better report might not have made specific recommendations regarding the culpability of, or consequences for, McGuire, but it should not need to. If Collingwood cannot bring themselves to make the hard call, the AFL should join the dots and recommend that McGuire exit the game now and not on his own terms at the end of the 2021 season.
For McGuire to address reporters on Monday, more or less reject the findings of an investigation Collingwood commissioned and then celebrate a “historic and proud day” for the club was hypocrisy in the extreme. The entire news conference was a study in cringe as the Collingwood president swung between insolence and remorse, reading a scripted apology of sorts and a plan of attack to indeed make things better. It was a regrettable plunge into uncharted depths of insincerity.
It betrayed a club – under McGuire, at least – that is not fully grasping the gravity of the mess it is in, nor one ready to properly make things right. The AFL’s response has been typically chary, with chief executive Gillon McLachlan vowing to “formally review the information” of the Do Better report and to “consider what else we can and should do as the governing body”.
McLachlan has proven to be a masterful administrator, but this is his litmus test. If there is one knock on his regime it is his willingness to stand up to the powerbrokers of the big Melbourne clubs. There is no bigger club on his patch than Collingwood, and no larger figure than McGuire. McLachlan might have set a dangerous precedent when essentially turning a blind eye to McGuire’s misogynistic remarks about AFL journalist Caroline Wilson in 2016, but there is no room for spin now. A line in the sand must be drawn between what the AFL will and will not accept.
This should be a time of vindication for Lumumba, whose cries for discourse and reparation have been withering on the vine for too long. Finally, with the game’s greatest challenge staring it in the eye, the AFL is promising to “do everything in our power to listen” to Lumumba and anyone else harmed by Collingwood’s toxic culture. Listening is a good place to start. Action against those who allowed it all to happen is an even better place to end it.
