Peris was nominated and elected as a Hockey Australia director in a vote by state member associations in which Sudano was returned as president and Seoul gold medallist Sally Carbon was appointed vice-president.
Hockey Australia did not say whether it was aware of her social media activity at the time.
“Hockey Australia’s various stakeholders have their own personal views which do not always reflect the views of the organisation and the Hockey Australia board,” Hockey Australia said in a statement.
“Hockey Australia has spoken with Ms Peris following her election and director’s induction to reiterate the organisation’s values and the role of the board in representing and protecting the diverse communities within our sport.”
Under Hockey Australia’s constitution, voting rights for its nine-person board are held by the states, giving the national federation little power to determine who are put forward and chosen as directors.
Lebanese Muslim Association secretary Gamel Kheir said Hockey Australia should consider whether it was appropriate for Peris to be on its board.
“In the highly sensitive days that we live in now, where all the attention seems to be on confronting antisemitism and to a lesser extent Islamophobia, I think it would be incumbent on Hockey Australia to examine her suitability for the role. That would be a given,” he said.
Peris and Craig Foster were co-chairs of the Australian Republic Movement before both stepped down over differences of opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Credit: Rhett Wyman
“More importantly, had those sentiments been made against the Jewish community, we wouldn’t be having this conversation today. She would be nowhere near any hockey board.”
Australia’s national teams, the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos, have played against opponents from majority Muslim countries Pakistan and Malaysia in recent editions of the Commonwealth Games.
A former giant of the sport, where hockey is the national game, Pakistan won men’s Olympic gold medals in 1960 in Rome, 1968 in Mexico City and 1984 in Los Angeles and took home silver behind Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. The Malaysian men’s team was third in that tournament and made the men’s final, losing to Australia, at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.
“The Australian Sports Commission does not condone or support these views,” a spokesperson for the government agency said of the post. “The ASC is firmly of the view that everyone has a place in sport, and this is a matter for Hockey Australia.”
A strong supporter of Israel, Peris was in the country last month on a study tour with the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council when Iran rained down missiles in retaliation for a strike on its nuclear facilities, forcing her delegation to take cover in a bomb shelter.
She said she had sat down and eaten with Arab and Palestinian civilians in Israel and the West Bank during the trip.
“I am not anti-Muslims – I have Muslim family, friends and doctors,” she said on X in June.
Peris switched to athletics after her hockey career, winning two gold medals at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and reaching the semi-finals in the women’s 400 metres at the Sydney Olympics, in which Cathy Freeman raced to victory.
In 2013, she became the first Indigenous woman elected to federal parliament.
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