Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell says premiership mentor Alastair Clarkson could be “unlikely” to attend a 10-year reunion this yr within the wake of the racism scandal that he mentioned had taken an ”emotional toll” on everybody on the membership.
Mitchell was responding after Clarkson launched a scathing assault on the credibility of the Hawthorn investigation and labelled his outdated membership “shameful” as he declared he’s been unfairly handled for the complete course of.
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Clarkson, now teaching North Melbourne, unleashed on Thursday and mentioned he was pissed off at being denied an opportunity to current his model of occasions to the investigators over the earlier eight months, and that Hawthorn ought to be investigated for its dealing with of the problem.
Mitchell, who changed Clarkson when he made a untimely exit from the Hawks, mentioned he was “saddened” by the entire scenario and the longer it dragged on the tougher it will be for everybody.
“The emotional toll that it takes on so many stakeholders, whichever side of it you’re on, or if you’re the innocent bystander as the public, the football fan or the Hawthorn member, I think a lot of people are saddened by the whole thing,” he informed SEN.
“There’s probably a whole bunch of other emotions that come into it depending on your mood on a given day.
“The big picture is everyone wants this finished as quickly and as fairly as possible. It doesn’t feel like that is what’s happening quickly or fairly.
“I think if we soldier on and push towards to that, whoever is in control of all this … the only people enjoying it going longer and longer are the lawyers.”
Mitchell mentioned whereas he and different gamers stayed in contact with Clarkson, the fallout since his departure would make it arduous for him to attend the 10-year reunion of the 2013 premiership, certainly one of 4 Clarkson received as coach of the Hawks.
“It seems unlikely, right at this point,” he mentioned.
As he unloaded on Thursday, Clarkson mentioned he didn’t wish to name himself a sufferer of the scenario, however urged both Hawthorn or the AFL to take cost of the proceedings, blaming his former membership for the confusion over the investigation.
“There‘s one particular party out there that was the catalyst for all this, that haven’t been investigated at all – their governance and conduct in this whole thing, the Hawthorn Football Club, just shameful,” Clarkson mentioned.
“Let‘s do an investigation on them and their practices and see how they go.
“All these events … just makes it a circus, someone just needs to cut through it all and take ownership of the whole process, whether that‘s from within the Hawthorn Football Club or the AFL.”
Hawthorn issued a statement Thursday afternoon saying the club continued to co-operate fully with the AFL and independent panel.
“We completely understand that this process, and the speed at which it has been conducted, has been frustrating for everyone involved,” the statement read.
“We, like everyone, want to see this matter resolved fairly and quickly in the best interests of all.
“At every step of this process the club has complied with our obligations under AFL integrity rules and confidentiality arrangements.”
It comes the day after the chair of the independent panel, Bernard Quinn KC, released a statement detailing why the process had stalled, saying that Clarkson, Brisbane coach Chris Fagan and former Hawthorn player development manager Jason Burt were refusing to be interviewed until documents detailing the allegations were handed over to them.
Mr Quinn said the indigenous families involved in the investigation do not want the documents to be handed over due to fears sensitive personal information would be passed on, causing the halt to proceedings.
Clarkson criticised Mr Quinn for releasing the statement after imposing restrictions on what the parties involved in the investigation could say publicly.
“We‘re just waiting around like we have for the last eight months to see where it goes next … bit intriguing that the guy who actually establishes the protocol around confidentiality actually breaches it yesterday,” Clarkson said.
“We‘re just waiting for the opportunity and the platform to be able to tell our side of the story, and when we get that, Fages, myself and Jase (Burt) right from the get go have been willing to co-operate and be involved in this investigation, but eight months later we still haven’t heard when or the way it’s all going to unfold.
“What‘s the point arguing about it … the damage is done and the reputations have been scarred, and we’ve bought to by some means simply claw our reputations again by means of this complete course of, and all we wish is a good platform to have the ability to do this.
“The procedural equity supplied to myself, Fages and Jason has been subsequent to zero, and that‘s significantly irritating.”
Clarkson mentioned the discharge of the assertion had broken his belief within the investigation which had impacted so many events negatively.
“Why wouldn’t it, when the guy who’s heading up the actual process actually violates the very confidentiality that he said we should all abide by, how can we trust that process is going to be fair, and it hasn’t been for the whole eight months,” he mentioned.
“It‘s just extraordinary that we waited eight months … the game is the victim of this, the game is shamed, obviously myself, Fages, Jase and our families have been shamed … the indigenous and First Nations families, they’ve been shamed.”
Source: www.news.com.au
