Racial vilification ‘slur’ against Port Douglas thrown out
AFL CAIRNS
PORT Douglas plan to move on from a racial vilification ‘slur’ levelled at the club that was thrown out this week.
The allegation was made by a Manunda footballer against a Port Douglas official during the AFL Cairns grand final. The player claimed he was racially abused by one of the Crocs water carriers during the clash at Cazalys Stadium on September 16.?
Crocs president Chris Bradsworth said his club was particularly disappointed by the conduct of Hawks coach Marc Harbrow following the accusation.
Harbrow told News Limited on September 21:
“It is a reminder that racism is still alive and goes on in our beloved game of football. It is very, very disappointing. Someone who is like this should not be around a football ground or involved in a diverse community. This person should be educated and racism needs to stop.”
AFL Cairns dismissed the case this week, however the Crocs had maintained their innocence from the outset.
Bradsworth said Harbrow’s comments were unacceptable.
“The Port Douglas Football Club is happy to finally have the racial vilification slur on one of our officials, and our club, thrown out,” he said.
“From the start the club has done nothing but back our official in a correct manner. The club was bitterly disappointed with Manunda coach Marc Harbrow’s comments in the Cairns Post regarding this.
“Hanging our official out to dry was unacceptable. This official has a family and children who have indigenous friends, as does the club, and he has been clearly affected by this allegation.
“He and the club acknowledge he should not interact on the field, but to have a racial vilification accusation on him was devastating.”
The Port Douglas official, speaking on the guarantee of anonymity, said he wanted a public apology from Manunda.
“A false accusation is as bad as what he claimed I said,” he said.
“The penalty should be the same as what I was going to get if found guilty. I don’t feel vindicated by this decision. This, I feel, needs to be said publicly by AFL Cairns and Manunda Hawks.”
Port Douglas remain upset that their official, who had been working in Melbourne during the investigation, had to fly back to defend the allegations only for the case to be postponed due to the Manunda players not returning phone calls.
“Our man is out of pocket $1000 from this saga, who pays for that?” Bradsworth said.
The official was willing to take a polygraph test to prove his innocence, while Port Douglas assistant coach Wes Glass had prepared a statement claiming he heard no racial abuse towards the Hawks player. It's believed there were three people in the vicinity of the incident.
AFL Cairns Operations Manager Craig Lees said the allegations against Port Douglas are now being regarded as ‘baseless’.
“In review of the National Vilification & Discrimination policy and seeking feedback from AFL Queensland and independent adjudicator (who was appointed to investigate this case), it has been decided AFL Cairns cannot pursue this matter any further.
“Under these circumstances where the complainant is not available for interview and basically can't be contacted, meaning that it is not possible to better investigate the complaint, it has been decided by the League to close the matter, as such the allegations are being treated by the league as baseless, as everyone is entitled to presumption of innocence unless proven otherwise.
“AFL Cairns examined an assessment of a complaint that was made to the organisation as the governing body of the association, as with all complaints it was treated objectively and without bias with the hope of making a determination. Unfortunately for all parties no resolution was possible.”
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