Phil Krakouer leads racism class action against league

The claim also says that Sheedy, who was Essendon coach from 1981-2007, admitted to Krakouer at a sports night at Nunawading Football Club that he encouraged his players “to abuse Krakouer and his brother to obtain a tactical advantage against them in matches”.

Daniher declined to comment at this stage. Sheedy has been contacted for comment.

The claim argues the AFL “owed the abused players a duty to take reasonable care for their safety and to avoid exposing them to unnecessary risk of personal injury in connection with the abuse risk of harm” and “the AFL had an obligation to provide the abused players with a safe system of work during and in connection with matches, analogous to the duty owed by an employer to an employee”.

It says it was clear such abuse was occurring and had occurred previously yet nothing was done to provide a safe workplace. The Peek Rule, to penalise players for racial abuse, was only introduced after former Bomber Michael Long complained of being racially abused by Collingwood’s Damian Monkhorst in 1995.

The AFL said in a statement that it would defend the claims while admitting there had been racism in Australian rules football.

“The AFL respects and values all people in our game and is continually working to improve and promote football environments that reflect that respect and maintain standards that are unaccepting of discrimination, in all forms.

“As a code we are privileged to have had hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players who have played our game, including Phil and Jimmy Krakouer. We fully acknowledge during our long history of the game there has been racism in Australian football and that players have been marginalised, hurt or discriminated against because of their race and for that we have apologised and continue to apologise and will continue to act to address that harm.

“While we work through the Margalit Lawyers class action, we will continue our ongoing work against racism and discrimination with our clubs, our players, our staff and our supporters to promote football environments at all levels around the country that are safe and respectful for all.

“We do not agree with the Margalit Lawyers claims that the VFL/AFL has been conducted negligently over the past 47 years and we will defend those claims.”

Loading

Essendon, who have a long history of Indigenous players in the game, defended Sheedy’s reputation.

“The club acknowledges the court action taken by Phil Krakouer against the AFL, which includes allegations of incidents of racism during his playing career in the 1980s.

“No individual should be subject to racism, discrimination or any form of vilification, on or off the field. We must continue to learn and reflect on the past to ensure our game is free of any form of racism or discrimination. 
The club has a history of advocacy for First Nations people, which has been led by Kevin Sheedy, who was instrumental in making a stand against racism in 1995 alongside Michael Long, which led to the introduction of the Peek Rule. Throughout his career Kevin has championed the causes of First Nations footballers, never more so than through his role in the establishment of ‘Dreamtime at the ‘G’, a celebration of First Nations peoples and cultures.

“As a director of the club, Kevin has strenuously denied the allegation in the court action that refers to him and the club will continue to support him and the past Essendon players that are also referred to in the court action.

Whilst this is an ongoing court action, the club will respect the legal process and won’t be making any further comment at this time.

“The club’s thoughts are with First Nations peoples who continue to experience unacceptable levels of racism. We encourage those needing support to reach out to their local Aboriginal Community Health Service.”

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.