A couple at the centre of the Hawthorn racism review is considering taking legal action against the club, which they say “purposefully abandoned” them and “cruelly” dishonoured its public pledge of support after the scandal broke.
Key points:
- Lawyer Judy Courtin says the couple was forced to “beg, cap in hand” for counselling support after traumatic experiences
- Dr Courtin says her clients will not participate in the AFL investigation because it “cannot be independent”
- Hawthorn’s chief executive reiterated the club would offer support to anyone who needs it, which Courtin says, is “virtue-signalling” and “pretence”
The couple’s lawyer, Judy Courtin, released a statement on Tuesday, which quoted the couple as saying they were “left sitting in our pain, re-traumatised and feeling blamed and invalidated”.
“We feel that Hawthorn and the AFL have attempted to wipe their hands clean of us, and worse, to blame us for what happened to us,” the couple said in the statement.
“They have publicly stated that they are supporting us, but in private, we feel torment at every turn. Often, we are obtaining information via the media.
“We feel abandoned by the very club that was promising to understand and address our hurt and trauma.
“Once again, we feel as though our voices are being silenced or controlled in processes that are not independent or safe. We are fearful, scared, intimidated and all of the feelings from the past are, once again, so familiar.”
Stating that it lacked independence, the couple previously refused to participate in the AFL-commissioned investigation that flowed from Hawthorn’s Cultural Safety Review, the latter of which sought to understand historical incidents of racism at the club.
Dr Courtin said the couple would now consider civil litigation and said their lives had been “turned upside down” by the affair.
Former club coaches Alastair Clarkson and Chris Fagan have denied any wrongdoing in relation to allegations made to the authors of the Hawthorn report.
After the scandal broke, the AFL claimed its investigative panel would reach findings by Christmas last year, but its progress has been slow.
Clarkson and Fagan are yet to be interviewed and few of the families to make allegations of mistreatment have been willing to participate.
In October, Dr Courtin told ABC Sport the AFL review lacked credibility.
“An inquiry that is paid for and established by the AFL, and absent of any input from my clients, is not and cannot be independent,” Dr Courtin said, adding that her clients “continue to be treated with disdain”.
The AFL said its investigation is ongoing.
“The AFL is committed to providing support for all, including those who have shared their experiences and those who have chosen not to be part of the investigation,” a statement read.
“Where appropriate we have offered this support through the legal representatives of the parties represented. That support continues.”
‘Forced to beg, cap in hand’
Dr Courtin said the couple had been “forced to beg, cap in hand” for counselling support after their alleged ordeal had become public knowledge, and that it took “nine weeks of pointless argument for the HFC [Hawthorn Football Club] to finally agree to pay for some counselling for our distressed client, which has, again, further exacerbated their sense of betrayal and mistreatment”.
“It was suggested that one of our clients obtain a referral from his GP for 10 publicly funded counselling sessions at no cost to the HFC,” Dr Courtin said in the statement.
“We immediately rejected this proposition. The ‘public’ did not bear the responsibility for the psychiatric harm of our client.
“Nor, as the club would (or should) well know, would Medicare cover the full cost of treatment by most psychologists.
“Such responsibility for the funding of the psychological treatments lay squarely, we say, with the HFC.”
Dr Courtin claimed Hawthorn chief executive Justin Reeves’s public statements of support had been “nothing more than virtue-signalling, hypocrisy and pretence”.
Reeves said in a statement: “Our focus has and will always be on the well-being of everyone involved. The Club has provided support to the family referred to by Judy Courtin. This includes agreeing to provide financial support for 30 counselling sessions to a counsellor of their choice. The club will continue to provide support for anyone that requires it, as we have previously committed.”
In a statement to ABC Sport, Dr Courtin said she had been “requesting support from the HFC since 30 September 2022”.
“The requisite support called for much more than funding for counselling. It was denied outright,” Dr Courtin said.
“If the HFC’s promise to provide ongoing support for our clients was genuine, the club would be on the front foot asking what it is that our clients need. That is, they would be making genuine offers of support.
“Instead, our clients are met with what are unnecessary legalistic and harmful obstacles.”
‘Their lives have been turned upside down’
In her statement, Dr Courtin said Hawthorn and the AFL’s handling of the affair had “re-traumatised” her clients, as had the leaking of their personal information.
“In two ordeals, a decade apart, [their] lives have been turned upside down by the HFC,” the statement said.
“Not only has the club not delivered on its promises of support for our clients from 6 months ago, its adversarial and legalistic course continues to augment the harm.
“Our clients, who took part in this ‘truth-telling’ review, allege additional and ongoing harm flowing from that report and, especially, its unauthorised publication.
“The leaked copy of the report included emails and testimonies of the participants, some of which described their panic, pain and desperation.
“These documents were marked ‘private and confidential’. Their publication served no public interest and only caused further trauma and continue to do so.”
The statement said Dr Courtin’s clients would not take part in the AFL’s investigation as it “cannot be independent”, and were instead looking into civil legal options.
“Our clients, feeling exposed, vulnerable and re-traumatised, were purposefully abandoned by the very club that was pledging to understand and address their hurt and trauma, all for the eventual betterment of the club,” the statement read.
“The irony here is alarming – having re-opened the wounds of its First Nations players and their families under the guise of bettering itself, HFC, in effect, sought to bury the traumas of its own creation.”
ABC Sport has contacted the AFL for comment.
Source link
#Hawthorn #racism #review #couple #abandoned #AFL #club #legal #action