Hawks coach Sam Mitchell makes a sad admission about the club’s ruined relationship with Alastair Clarkson over bombshell racism probe
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell says premiership mentor Alastair Clarkson would be ‘unlikely’ to attend a 10-year reunion this year in the wake of the racism scandal that he said had taken an ’emotional toll’ on everyone at the club.
Mitchell was responding after Clarkson launched a scathing attack on the credibility of the Hawthorn investigation and labelled his old club ‘shameful’ as he declared he’s been unfairly treated for the entire process.
Clarkson, now coaching North Melbourne, unleashed on Thursday and said he was frustrated at being denied a chance to present his version of events to the investigators over the previous eight months, and that Hawthorn should be investigated for its handling of the issue.
Mitchell, who replaced Clarkson when he made a premature exit from the Hawks, said he was ‘saddened’ by the whole situation and the longer it dragged on the harder it would be for everyone.
‘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 told 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.’
As he unloaded on Thursday, Clarkson said he did not want to call himself a victim of the situation, but urged either Hawthorn or the AFL to take charge of the proceedings, blaming his former club 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 said.
‘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.
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 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 (Fagan), 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 how 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 got to somehow just claw our reputations back through this whole process, and all we want is a fair platform to be able to do that.
‘The procedural fairness offered to myself, Fages and Jason has been next to zero, and that’s particularly frustrating.’
Clarkson said the release of the statement had damaged his trust in the investigation which had impacted so many parties 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 said.
‘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.’
