Professional mediator claims Hawthorn and AFL missed opportunities during racism saga

Former co-chair of the National Mediation Conference and former director at Newport & Wildman Tony Newport said there were missed opportunities for both parties to reach a "dignified and productive" outcome through mediation.

"It's incredible that one side gets interviewed and that's made public ... it's just a terrible way to go about things," he said.

"I've been involved in sporting conflicts before. We were approached with a pretty serious anonymous complaint with one major sporting body and their rules stated that they had to investigate.

"You have two choices at that point. You get in a private investigator, and they take down pretty much everything people say then they share it .... or you talk to all the key parties first and if there is a serious case to answer you recommend a proper investigator."

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The saga at the Hawks began in September 2022 when documents from an external review into historical allegations of racism made by former Indigenous players were published in the media.

These allegations included claims that coaching staff at the club pressured one player and their partner to terminate a pregnancy and sought to separate other players from their families.

Three former members of the club's coaching staff - Alastair Clarkson, Chris Fagan and Jason Burt - were implicated in the scandal.

All three deny and wrongdoing and a months-long investigation by the AFL which concluded in late May made "no adverse findings" against the former staff.

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Three former players, their families and the club's former Indigenous manager say they will lodge a case with the Australian Human Rights Commission.

In an open letter Cyril Rioli, his wife Shannyn Ahsam-Rioli, Jermaine and Montanah Miller-Lewis, Carl Peterson and Leon Egan claimed confidences were "betrayed" during the process.

"We told our truths in confidence, because we believed that it would bring change. And because we needed to heal and move on," the letter read.

"That confidence was betrayed.

"All we ever wanted was to sit with the coaches and officials we looked up to, and who had such control over our lives and our futures, and make them understand what we heard."

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Mr Newport said sporting clubs occupied a peculiar place when it came to workplace relations as players and coaching staff did not always maintain the same level of professional distance found in other workplaces.

"Sport holds a special place in our culture, and it's become increasingly professional," Mr Newport said.

"They are there more than eight hours a day in the office, particularly where you're travelling and you have team relationships.

"They're not supervisor-employee relationships, but they are supervisor-employee relationships."

The mediator said the circumstances made for a complicated dispute resolution process.

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According to Mr Newport a mediation process would have allowed both parties to "feel heard" - a key point of contention in the letter - and could have led to key policy changes at the football club.

"Once you've spoken to all parties, you can then sit down and design a process that they all agree upon," he said.

"When you get people who are upset about how they've been treated into a position where they are actually saying, 'well, this is what we'd like to see' you get real action from that.

"If you don't win the confidence of both parties to start with, you're on the back foot no matter how you try to resolve it."

Mr Newport said the mediation process was the same "whether it's a sporting organisation or a manufacturing company or an aged care facility".

Any potential mediation process would also have benefited from engagement with Indigenous elders and senior club staff according to Mr Newport.

Mr Newport said ultimately the responsibility lay with the club and the AFL.

"If they'd have done the review on both sides, they would have realised that they've got a serious dilemma," he said.

"I think that the onus is really on the AFL and Hawthorn to have handled it better."

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