A racism scandal involving the separation of indigenous players from their partners and pressure on at least one couple to abort a child has rocked Australia’s most popular and lucrative sport just days before the grand final.
Indigenous players in the Australian Football League alleged that they had their SIM cards removed to cut them off from their families, while one athlete said he was pressured to tell his girlfriend to terminate a pregnancy, according to the findings of a review stretching back more than a decade.
“[A club official] told me to kill my unborn kid,” the player told broadcaster ABC.
Hawthorn Football Club, one of the most successful teams in the AFL’s recent history, commissioned the report this year following the allegations of abuse of its indigenous players as far back as 2005. The findings at the Melbourne-based club, which were revealed by an investigation by ABC, have resurrected memories of the mistreatment of the Aboriginal community.
The AFL confirmed the ABC report’s findings.
The league is one of the most lucrative in the country and counts Toyota, which has a reported A$18.5mn (US$12.3) a year deal with the league, Coca-Cola, Continental Tyres, McDonald’s, Telstra and Irish gambling company Flutter Entertainment among its corporate sponsors.
A recent broadcasting deal highlighted the sport’s commercial status, valuing its media rights at A$4.5bn over seven years despite its lack of international appeal.
The ABC reported on Wednesday that the review at Hawthorn had unearthed a culture of bullying and coercion. The head of the competition’s governing body said the findings were “challenging, harrowing and disturbing”.
The report has convulsed the league ahead of Saturday’s Aussie Rules grand final between the Sydney Swans and Geelong Cats in front of more than 100,000 spectators in Melbourne.
The AFL has adopted various measures to improve its relations with the indigenous community in Australia, which provides some of the best and most high-profile players in the league.
It has introduced an indigenous round, where players don Aboriginal-designed jerseys and every game is preceded by an acknowledgment of the original inhabitants of the land where the match is being played.
That outreach, however, has been undermined by a series of controversies over the past decade that has included the booing of indigenous player Adam Goodes and racist incidents involving the Collingwood and Adelaide football clubs.
Tim Soutphommasane, Australia’s former race discrimination commissioner, said the treatment of the indigenous players by Hawthorn “smacked of paternalism and the politics of another age” when Australia’s government separated Aboriginal children from their families.
“This is deeply upsetting. It evokes memories of politics from the past that we thought were behind us,” he said. “It is very clear there are systemic issues of racial discrimination within the AFL,” he said.
A senior figure at another club said the allegations were shocking and showed that the AFL had failed to properly address the issue.
Hawthorn, known as the “Hawks”, said that it had launched the review by indigenous consultants after former players alleged they were mistreated during the club’s glory years.
“This important work has raised disturbing historical allegations that require further investigation,” it said.