Former Australia International Rules coach Alastair Clarkson has responded to claims of historical racist abuse at Hawthorn.
Clarkson, who coached the Hawks between 2005 and ‘21, winning four AFL Premiership titles, was the subject of serious allegations that have emerged from a report on the club’s relationship with its indigenous players.
It emerged last week that a First Nations player told the external review that Clarkson and his assistant Chris Fagan urged him and his partner to abort their child and advised that he should break up with her.
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Other harrowing revelations included a player claiming that he had “multiple suicide attempts'”and “multiple stays in the mental health unit at the hospital” as a result of the trauma visited upon him.
During his tenure at the club Clarkson gave AFL debuts to current Derry midfielder Conor Glass and Meath native Conor Nash, who remains at the club, while Dublin star Ciaran Kilkenny also had a brief stint under his regime before opting to return home and resume his inter-county career.
Clarkson took charge of the Australian International Rules team that faced Ireland in one-off Test matches in 2014 and ‘15, winning the first and losing the second.
He denies the allegations but has stepped aside from North Melbourne, where he was due to start as coach on November 1, pending an investigation.
In a statement, the 54-year-old said that he feared that he would not receive “fair process” after details of the report emerged.
“Since learning of the allegations first reported in the media last Wednesday I have been shocked and deeply distressed,” his statement read.
“It remains profoundly disappointing that these matters are now being widely canvassed in the public domain without the opportunity being given to me or others to give our accounts or even read the Hawthorn report, which to this day I have not seen.
“The further recent publication of purported extracts from the report means I now have grave concerns that any chance of a fair process and just outcome have been seriously undermined, if not irrevocably corrupted.
“The failure to maintain the confidentiality of the review and further damaging public speculation means I have no option but to express publicly, in the strongest and most emphatic terms possible, that I did not behave in the manner claimed.”
Clarkson added that he has “always appreciated and respected the unique journeys of First Nations players into the highest echelons of Australian Rules Football” and described allegations made against him as “false and deeply offensive”.
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