North Melbourne president Sonja Hood insists the AFL membership would have appointed Alastair Clarkson as coach even when that they had prior information of the racism allegations at Hawthorn.
But Hood has slammed the Hawks hierarchy of the time for not giving her a “courtesy” cellphone name in regards to the allegations earlier than an explosive ABC report made them public final September.
Clarkson, who took on the North Melbourne teaching position one month earlier, has now stepped away from his job indefinitely as he continues to cope with the fallout from the continued saga.
The 55-year-old denies any wrongdoing however is but to be formally interviewed as a part of the impartial investigation arrange by the AFL eight months in the past.
“If I had had the opportunity to do the due diligence that we did after the allegations became public in order to understand what we were dealing with, yeah, I’d have done it (appointed Clarkson) again,” Hood advised Triple M on Thursday.
“Alastair Clarkson’s a really good person and a really good coach.
“I’m not going to presuppose the outcome of this process.
“Everybody has the right to be heard and the right to have a process.
“But if we’re going to not give people an opportunity off the basis of untested allegations, what kind of system are we in?”
Hawthorn outsourced their very own investigation into racism that allegedly occurred between 2008 and 2016, throughout Clarkson’s 17-year rein as Hawks coach.
Hood mentioned the Hawks had not pre-warned her in regards to the allegations from that investigation, which got here to gentle in grand closing week final 12 months.
“I wouldn’t have minded if they’d done it the week it became public,” Hood mentioned.
“The first time I heard from anyone at Hawthorn was after (journalist) Russell Jackson had published his piece on the ABC.”
Hood recalled a gathering between the AFL and membership representatives that week the place it was clear one thing important was taking place however these concerned have been pretending in any other case.
“We couldn’t work out what was going on. We thought someone must’ve got into trouble at the Brownlow the night before,” Hood mentioned.
“Of course, that wasn’t what was going on. It was this story.
“I heard about it from the AFL. I never heard about it from Hawthorn until it was in the public domain.
“I’d like to think that if that was my club, I’d have done the opposing club president the courtesy of a call.”
Hood mentioned she took a name from new Hawthorn president Andy Gowers – appointed as Jeff Kennett’s successor in December – on Thursday morning after Clarkson’s choice to take day without work was introduced.
“He’s one of the first people that rang me this morning,” Hood mentioned.
“I’m very grateful for that call and for the conversations that we’ve had today.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
