Heritier Lumumba says the AFL has a simple choice to make in how it deals with systemic racism. “What side of history are you going to stand on?”
Speaking with Guardian Australia following Sunday night’s airing of his SBS documentary, Fair Game, the former Collingwood and Melbourne player says the AFL has failed to effectively address the issue of institutional racism and this sets a dangerous precedent.
The AFL has tightened rules around on-field abuse and has recently been equivocal in denouncing crowd vilification of Eddie Betts and Paddy Ryder, but to properly address the issue Lumumba believes it is important to watch out for the details and how an issue manifests, as well as the big flaws.
“There is a history of not competently dealing with systemic racism – not just at a club level, but the AFL,” says Lumumba. “This issue should have been eradicated from the game. But even when we had the situation with Adam Goodes [who ended his career in 2015 after enduring serial racist booing] the AFL didn’t know how to address it effectively. Their response to my concerns further speaks to a culture of incompetence.”
Lumumba played 223 games over 12 seasons (199 of these for Collingwood) and was an All-Australian in the Magpies’ premiership year of 2010. While widely recognised by the football world as an exciting half-back flanker, Sunday night’s documentary on SBS was more of an interior piece – a firsthand account of Lumumba’s search for identity and the prejudice he encountered at Collingwood.
Lumumba says that his understanding of how racism has been dealt with in the past with previous players leads him to believe that nobody at the AFL – not the governing body, the clubs or the AFL Players Association – has a real, effective way of dealing with the issues.
“Between 2013-2014, I raised my concerns with various levels of administration and management about racism within the club and how I was affected by it,” he says. “This was done on multiple occasions, however, no one was willing to appreciate the severity of my experiences and the impact it was having on me. As such it continues to be dismissed, and that is to the detriment of the club and my wellbeing.”
Lumumba says the combination of ignorance and power is dangerous, particularly when the both the AFL and Collingwood Football Club have an outsized influence in Australian life.
“The AFL’s silence and dismissal of this issue is to the detriment of progress being made, not only for those in the game coming after me, but all victims of racism who would look to a major institution like the AFL to show leadership on such a matter,” he says.
At Collingwood, Lumumba says that vilification came in various forms, including being nicknamed “chimp”, as well as being accused of “throwing the president under a bus” after expressing his disappointment on social media about Eddie McGuire’s comments associating Adam Goodes with King Kong.
“Throughout many years I privately confronted some people, but found it hard to confront others. It was part of a culture that tells you to ‘cop’ people ‘hanging shit’ on you ‘on the chin’ and also encourages and rewards ‘self-deprecation’,” Lumumba says.
“It wasn’t until I found the courage to get up in front of the group and talked about the impact it had on me that the jokes finally stopped after nine years.”
The jokes may have stopped, but the torment didn’t. In Fair Game, Lumumba reveals that after he spoke to the group he was ridiculed by his coach Nathan Buckley with a couple of homophobic jokes were directed towards players including Lumumba.
“My fucking coach,” he says in the documentary, “…he [was] looking at me and said, ‘Harry is that OK for him to say that?’, like mocking me, and I just looked at him and I felt so fucking embarrassed.”
The relationship continued to fracture until Lumumba confronted Buckley in a highly-publicised encounter, calling him “an insensitive fuck”. It ultimately led to Lumumba leaving the club.
It is incidents such as this, as well the odd unorthodox interview that have led to Lumumba being labelled crazy – a label Buckley has been accused of grasping at when responding to a series of questions about Lumumba’s allegations at a media conference last week.
Appearing to hold back laughter, the Collingwood coach claimed he was unaware of the racist moniker (despite Lumumba’s claim he raised the issue directly to Buckley’s attention) and that the club was supporting Lumumba with his “issues” – a remark Lumumba read as an insinuation to matters of mental health.
“Given that I have previously been open with the public about overcoming depression and anxiety, it feels like the AFL and Collingwood are spinning a narrative about being concerned for my wellbeing instead of addressing the actual issues that I raised,” he says.
“It’s disappointing that when I called the leadership into question, they deal with it by feigning concern about my mental health. Not only is it irresponsible, it completely avoids the issue – again, deal with the racism. In my situation, it is clear the AFL is incompetent in dealing with and addressing the issue.”
This is something Lumumba says is emphasised by the fact he is yet to receive any meaningful contact from Collingwood or the AFL. The AFL’s general manager of inclusion and social policy, Tanya Hosch, briefly met with Lumumba last Thursday on the set of the Marngrook Footy Show.
But plenty of support has come following the documentary, including from his former coach Mick Malthouse, someone Lumumba says has been a pillar of support.
Malthouse, a man whose own reaction to Buckley could be described as toxic, also added that “sometimes the chemistry doesn’t mix with people”.
Three former Collingwood team-mates, Leon Davis, Andrew Krakouer and Shae McNamara have also stood up Lumumba’s story after the club doubted it.
“Since the airing of Fair Game, I’ve been overwhelmed by the testimonies of people from all levels of the game, as well as outside the game, who have a similar story to mine,” says Lumumba. “I’ve spoken to myriad players and staff who understand just how systemic and far reaching racism is within the AFL.”
Change will not be easy. Football and politics remain the country’s most popular blood sports, and the similarities between the two include having your character discredited should you try altering the status quo.
Lumumba expects the insults to continue, but hopes that by speaking out he will give others the courage to stand up.
“You don’t wait for people to change their minds. One by one we need to apply consistent pressure to ensure that change is made. But an important first step is for the AFL to acknowledge the issue and unequivocally condemn all forms of racism when they see it.”