Veteran journalist Caroline Wilson believes the racism allegations against key Hawthorn people will be the biggest story she’s ever covered if the claims are “proven in any way to have substance”.
A report in the ABC with testimony from numerous families provided significant allegations against former Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson, assistant coach Chris Fagan and player manager Jason Burt.
A Hawthorn external investigation into racism at the club – which parts of the ABC report drew from – had similar findings.
However, Clarkson, Fagan and Burt are yet to share their sides of the story and the claims currently remain unproven. Clarkson and Fagan have strenuously denied the allegations and the AFL is assembling an independent panel to investigate.
But with the seriousness of the claims – including the allegation in the ABC report that Clarkson told an indigenous player to tell his partner to abort their unborn child – has Wilson highly concerned.
She hinted that Nine’s Footy Classified could return during the off-season if further developments in the story occur.
“I think this Hawthorn story and if something really big happens, I remember Footy Classified came back out of season a few times during the Essendon drugs scandal, and if these allegations are proven in any way to have substance then I think this will be as big. Well, it’ll be a bigger story,” she told the Don’t Shoot The Messenger podcast.
“What Alastair Clarkson is being accused of is probably the worst thing a coach has ever been accused of in my time in football.
“I mean it’s horrendous.”
It comes as a report in The Age from Wilson on Saturday morning detailed further allegations of controlling behaviour from Clarkson.
EXCLUSIVE: Fresh allegations of controlling behaviour have emerged against former Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson. But this time the accusations relate to non-Indigenous past players and notably the current coach Sam Mitchell https://t.co/AOIuXE1Z0I
— Real Footy (AFL) (@agerealfooty) October 1, 2022
Wilson provides details from non-Indigenous players including Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell, naming four occasions on which Clarkson treated Mitchell with a level of disrespect during 2011 with the Mitchell family facing a number of health problems.
Mitchell did not comment in the article.
Her report also says: “The majority of the former players contacted stressed that Clarkson saw himself as a father figure at the club who, while at times overstepping the mark in interfering in their personal lives, firmly believed he was prioritising the best interests of his footballers.”
But the white players interviewed in Wilson’s article also state their experiences should not be compared to those of Indigenous players.
Despite announcing a four-person panel would be appointed within 24 hours last Wednesday, it’s yet to be revealed more than 10 days on, promoting the likelihood the investigation could draw on for several months to come.