Adelaide Head of Football Brett Burton and coach Don Pyke have clarified what actually happened regarding the reported issues the club’s indigenous players had with their preseason camp.
It was reported multiple indigenous players took issue with some of the events that took place on the controversial preseason camp and Burton clarified the situation.
“We had an indigenous elder there to welcome us to their lands, there was an indigenous artefact that was used a talking stick that had a connection to one of our players and his cultural background,” he said.
“And so there was some clarity around that and within 72 hours of the camp, that was dealt with and there was just some clarity regarding where that indigenous artefact came from.
“There’s no lingering issues from the camp.”
Essentially, one of the players needed to seek clarification about whether the artefact used was real and where it came from.
Pyke added further information surrounding what the Crows were trying to do with the camp.
“We went there with three things we wanted to get out of the camp which were around our resilience, we talked a bit about authenticity and a lot of the work we did at the camp was relationship based,” he said.
“The longer the time went on some of the feedback we got from the camp was there were a few misses and things that could’ve been done better.
“We went to a space trying to get better, it hasn’t worked.
“I don’t believe we’ve offended our indigenous players, I’ll be really clear, there was some uncertainty and a lack of clarity around certain areas of the camp.”
Adelaide has cut ties with Collective Minds, who organised the preseason camp, stating it was a “mutual split” between them.
"I won't be an apologist for us trying to get better. It hasn't worked, so we make a decision and we move on. And that's a mutual decision made with the Collective Mind group," - Don Pyke #weflyasone
— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) June 23, 2018