Adam Goodes might not have been lost to AFL if the code had had an Indigenous person among its leadership, the former Socceroo Bruce Djite has told the ABC’s Q+A audience in a powerful statement on racism in sport, saying “It’s time for platitudes to stop and action to be taken.”
Djite, now director of football at Adelaide United, said there was a lack of representation and cultural competence among the executives of Australian sporting codes.
“I tell you now – if there was an Indigenous person on the AFL commission or as AFL CEO during the time where Adam Goodes was getting racially vilified, it would have had a different reaction,” he said. “The guy might still be actively involved in the sport.
“If there were more women in high-powered positions, entrenched in the sporting game, it would have greater media coverage, it would have greater investment.
“Organisations need to be judged on the actions they take, not the words they speak.”
"Society will not get better if we keep leaving people behind." @BDjite calls for more diversity in sports leadership to bring about a real change in Australia. #QandA pic.twitter.com/MzByi3nNpN
— QandA (@QandA) June 16, 2020
The panel of sporting representatives agreed Australian sport had a problem with racism, highlighted by the recent claims by the former Collingwood player Héritier Lumumba that the club had ignored his allegations of racist treatment.
Sharni Layton, a Collingwood AFLW player and former captain of the Australian netball team, called on AFL clubs to apologise to players such as Goodes and Lumumba, saying it was their “ego” that was preventing them from doing so.
Questioner Melissa O’Donnell told the panel that despite clubs swearing “never again” after the treatment of Goodes, Collingwood “failed to fully comprehend” the “shocking racism and gaslighting that Héritier Lumumba experienced at his time at Collingwood”.
What role does sport have in stamping out racism? #QandA pic.twitter.com/r4TU6u8dqS
— QandA (@QandA) June 15, 2020
Lumumba, a premiership winning player for the Magpies, has said that he was called a “chimp” by his teammates and that Collingwood denied it and failed to adequately support him.
Gillon McLachlan, the CEO of the AFL, had been scheduled to appear on the program, but was not on the panel on Monday.
O’Donnell asked the panel whether sporting bodies could become leaders in “dismantling” racism.
Andrew Abdo, the acting CEO of the NRL, said players needed to be given “a platform so they can express themselves”.
“When the players in the Indigenous All Stars team didn’t sing the national anthem, we thought about it, consulted and felt it was appropriate to not sing it.
“I think the tide is turning.
“I think if sports want to win new fans and want to connect with society, I think that people want to belong to something that they believe in. I honestly think that younger people won’t tolerate anything less.”
Layton said AFL clubs and the league should apologise.
“I wish it didn’t take Black Lives Matter for us to be paying attention [to] Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and I hope we do continue to use this momentum,” she said.
“There needs to be an apology as well, a public apology. Those players that have spoken out have had to be so brave and they have copped so much for such a long time now.
“From a club perspective, we have come so far which I think is really exciting. I know, personally, at Collingwood we have got a great Indigenous community manager and she does a phenomenal job in the community but also in educating the players.
“However, it’s hard for them to reflect and realise at times that maybe we haven’t done things so well in the past. But I think you also need to be able to accept if things haven’t been done right previously and I think it comes down to ego.”
Brendon Gale, the CEO of Richmond Football Club, said sport did have a role to play in dismantling racism.
“Sport in this country is a very powerful social and cultural institution that has enormous traction in society,” he said. “So it gives an opportunity to shine a light on these issues.”
The panel also heard from former Matilda Moya Dodd, who asked “what would it take to embed gender equality in sport” as the codes restart after the pandemic.
Has women’s sport lost momentum due to COVID-19? What would it take to embed gender equality in sport’s recovery? #QandA pic.twitter.com/BasKDAS8K8
— QandA (@QandA) June 15, 2020
Gale said that women’s sport had “not fallen off the agenda”.
“Australian Rules Football for 100 years was a sport played by men,” he told the panel. “It was coached by men. It was managed by men … And yet here we are in 2020, we’ve got a female president.”
But sports broadcaster Tracey Holmes disagreed.
“It’s just dropped completely off the agenda,” she said. “Fida is going to announce in about 10 days, less than 10 days, where the next Fida Women’s World Cup will be staged.
“And the joint bid by Australia and New Zealand is on top and in all likelihood we’re going to get that. Now if it was 10 days out from a men’s World Cup being awarded to Australia and New Zealand, it would be front page, back page, middle page, talkback radio, it would be everywhere. What have we heard about this women’s World Cup bid? … It’s just disappeared.
“All the sports programming and sports bulletins and results once again have gone back to five, six, seven years ago – it’s men, men, men, men, men.”
Layton agreed, and asked Gale why the economic impact of shutdowns had hit women’s teams worse than the men’s.
“We’ve seen North Melbourne sack Scott Gowans who was part of the AFLW team,” she said. “They were arguably the number one team this year but you say AFL cares about the women’s program.
“We know the AFLW is going ahead, which is fantastic, but how much do the clubs care about their programs? … Why are the cuts coming straight to the women’s program rather than somewhere else in the club?”
