Former Hawthorn head of participant companies and soccer administration Jason Burt has hit out at an open letter penned by 4 of the households related to the membership’s ongoing racism saga.
Burt claims that the households had been looking for money, and disputed the allegations made as “wrong”, in an announcement via his legal professionals on Saturday.
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“It is simply not true that the complainants have not been seeking financial compensation,” the assertion added.
“The AFL had thousands of documents from Hawthorn and detailed information from me, Alastair and Chris which showed that their allegations were wrong.”
The assertion went on to state (on behalf of Burt) that Burt had all the time been co-operative, and welcomed additional court docket proceedings as a possibility to clear his title.
“Jason has always been willing to meet with the complainants. The only thing he asked for before meeting with them was access to the Hawthorn documents that the lawyers for the complainants refused to release until late last week,” the assertion learn.
“The allegations the complainants have made are wrong.
“Jason may respond in further detail when he has had time to consider this latest statement from Leon Zwier and welcomes the opportunity to do so in any court.”
Burt was named alongside former head coach Alastair Clarkson and present Brisbane coach Chris Fagan (beforehand Hawthorn’s basic supervisor of soccer from 2008 to 2016) as central to a sequence of allegations first reported by the ABC in 2022 of historic racism on the membership, uncovered as a part of the membership’s cultural security overview.
The Indigenous households’ letter, on behalf of the likes of four-time premiership star Cyril Rioli, alleges that they have been victims of racism, and in addition contains allegations of forcible separation.
The letter additionally alleges that in a single case, the household have been urged to have an abortion.
All three accused males have denied all of the claims made in media experiences and the open letter.
The letter described the continuing ordeal as a “public s**tshow”.
“We are some of the Indigenous families who endured racism at the Hawthorn Football Club,” the letter states.
“We were separated from our families.
“We were told an unborn child would ruin our futures.
“We were treated as special projects and control of our lives was taken from us. We told our truths in confidence, because we believed that it would bring change. And because we needed to heal and move on.
“That confidence was betrayed.”
Burt penned an announcement on social media after an interview with the Nine papers wherein he mentioned he didn’t really feel he owed any apology.
“Right now, I’ve got nothing to say sorry for,” he mentioned within the interview.
“I can honestly say the people involved in this investigation – and the families, particularly the players – left better people, better men, for being at Hawthorn.
“I’ll never really understand what an Aboriginal person, a First Nations person, feels. That’s just common sense. I don’t know how things I may have done have been received. And I’m sad for that, and I’m sad for them.”
In the assertion on social media, Burt known as Hawthorn’s investigation “a disgrace”, and the primary of a spread of examples of “poor governance” on the membership’s behalf.
“I also think it’s important to clarify that “Zac” and “Kylie”, who proceed to make allegations to the media, usually are not Indigenous Australians,” he mentioned.
In a response to Burt’s interview, one of many households, via their lawyer Judy Courtin, launched an announcement wherein they expressed that they have been “disgusted” at how their experiences had been represented.
“While our clients are grateful to Jason Burt for acknowledging some elements of the past events, they are disgusted at how they are being downplayed, and in some instances, entirely misrepresented,” the assertion reads.
“Jason’s version (of events) is completely inaccurate.”
The AFL launched an announcement on Tuesday 30 May saying its personal investigation into the allegations had terminated with the consent of the households, with no fees to be introduced underneath the AFL Rules in consequence.
The AFL resolved in its Tuesday assertion that “no adverse findings (had) been made in the Independent Investigation against any of the individuals against whom allegations (had) been made”, however that it didn’t “preclude the AFL from bringing a charge under AFL Rules against Hawthorn FC”.
The AFL’s assertion additionally acknowledged “each one of the Complainants feels hurt, pain and anguish following their time at Hawthorn FC.”
The group of households state within the letter that their consent to the termination of the AFL’s Independent Investigation was “not out of fear, but strength, because the AFL finally apologised to all First Nations players for racism in football.”
“They acknowledged our pain and hurt when we were at Hawthorn. They made a legally binding promise to us to combat racism in football,” they mentioned.
“And the game will be safer for all First Nations families because of it.”
The letter states that if conciliation motion within the Commission fails, that the households will pursue “the Federal Court, where we will tell our truths in the witness box.
“But they will hear us one way or another.”
It is known that there stay extra households with complaints of their therapy in related circumstances, however that these households weren’t a celebration to the letter, or the AFL’s investigation and subsequent agreements.
Source: www.news.com.au
