North Melbourne president Sonja Hood insists the AFL club would have appointed Alastair Clarkson as coach even if they had prior knowledge of the racism allegations at Hawthorn.
But Hood has slammed the Hawks hierarchy of the time for not giving her a “courtesy” phone call about the allegations before an explosive ABC report made them public last September.
Clarkson, who took on the North Melbourne coaching role one month earlier, has now stepped away from his job indefinitely as he continues to deal with the fallout from the ongoing saga.
The 55-year-old denies any wrongdoing but is yet to be formally interviewed as part of the independent investigation set up by the AFL eight months ago.
“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 told 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 own investigation into racism that allegedly occurred between 2008 and 2016, during Clarkson’s 17-year rein as Hawks coach.
Hood said the Hawks had not pre-warned her about the allegations from that investigation, which came to light in grand final week last year.
“I wouldn’t have minded if they’d done it the week it became public,” Hood said.
“The first time I heard from anyone at Hawthorn was after [journalist] Russell Jackson had published his piece on the ABC.”
Hood recalled a meeting between the AFL and club representatives that week where it was clear something significant was happening but those involved were pretending otherwise.
Alastair Clarkson. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
“We couldn’t work out what was going on. We thought someone must’ve got into trouble at the Brownlow the night before,” Hood said.
“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 said she took a call from new Hawthorn president Andy Gowers – appointed as Jeff Kennett’s successor in December – on Thursday morning after Clarkson’s decision to take time off was announced.
“He’s one of the first people that rang me this morning,” Hood said.
“I’m very grateful for that call and for the conversations that we’ve had today.”
Former Hawks great Jordan Lewis, who played under Clarkson in four premierships, also swiped his old club, revealing the extent of the toll the saga has borne on him.
“There are people still at Hawthorn with blood on their hands. The more I talk about it, the angrier I get,” Lewis told Fox Footy’s AFL 360 Plus.
“These people who were put in place to interview both sides of the situation to get a clearer picture of what actually happened haven’t done their job.
“I feel for the Indigenous players because they probably went into this situation hoping there would be an outcome. Once again, eight months down the track they still feel like they’re in limbo. The same goes for the other side of the camp. They haven’t even had a chance to talk.
“I couldn’t imagine that they would want to go back to the football club for a very, very long time. It’s really sad.”
According to Lewis, Clarkson was even refused service at a petrol station at the height of the investigation.
“When the news first broke and he had his first little layoff at North Melbourne, he went down to the coast to get away for a little bit,” he said.
“He stopped off at a petrol station… the person behind the counter refused to serve him. Because of what these allegations had been about. I don’t know how many times in his everyday life that would have happened, but it wears you down.
“To be accused of what he’s been accused of – and the other guys – to not be able to speak and tell your version of events, it would be excruciating.”
(with AAP)
Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has admitted his club’s review into racism at the club has ‘gone off the rails’, but defended their handling of the situation.
Clarkson, along with Chris Fagan and Jason Burt, were never involved with the inquiry, a decision that has been widely criticised since the bombshell allegations against the trio were made public.
Speaking on SEN, Kennett instead blamed the leaking of the report after the Hawks had submitted it to the AFL Integrity Unit for the storm which has since ensued, saying the Hawks were ‘a good club’ who had done ‘the right thing’.
“We did this storytelling to get the information, and we were horrified with the result,” Kennett said.
“We did it because we‘re a safe working environment. But once that report was leaked, that is when this whole thing has gone off the rails.
“Once we got the report, we were bound by a recommendation of the report but also our own obligations within the AFL family to hand that report to integrity.
“If that had not gone public, at that stage integrity with Hawthorn would have gone to the three and said ‘Look, these accusations have been made, do they have any substance?’ and then we decide what we‘re going to do with it.
“Once it went public, we had a firestorm.”
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