{"id":861252,"date":"2026-08-19T21:24:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T21:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/861252\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T21:24:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T21:24:21","slug":"sydney-swans-fans-including-former-nine-television-presenter-brooke-boney-left-devastated-by-the-allegations-their-club-is-facing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/861252\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney Swans fans, including former Nine television presenter Brooke Boney, left devastated by the allegations their club is facing"},"content":{"rendered":"

August 20, 2026 \u2014 5:00am<\/p>\n

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Swans supporters have been left disappointed and disenchanted after five players were banned for the rest of the AFL season by the club over their behaviour.<\/p>\n

The suspension of Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordon on Wednesday relates to the breach of the club\u2019s behavioural standards at the Pullman East Melbourne hotel on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

But it is an allegation of sexual assault, which is being investigated by Victoria Police and completely separate to the club penalties, that has some fans particularly shaken.<\/p>\n

Former television presenter<\/a> and longtime Swans fan Brooke Boney said the allegation was particularly hurtful because sexual violence hits close to home for many women.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer television host and Sydney Swans supporter Brooke Boney.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, my thoughts are with the woman at the centre of these allegations and with anyone else affected by what has happened,\u201d Boney said. \u201cIf the Swans\u2019 pride is my pride, then their shame must also be my shame.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese allegations are especially painful because, for so many women, sexual violence is not an abstract issue. We have experienced it ourselves or watched people we love experience it. In Australia, one in five women has experienced sexual violence since the age of 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when violence against women remains devastatingly prevalent and when women are still fighting for equality on and off the field, this conversation has to be bigger than what this means for the rest of the season. It is bigger than football and bigger than the club.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SwansSwans fans are grappling with how to feel.AFL Photos<\/p>\n

Karen Bevan, chief executive of Full Stop Australia \u2013 one of the country\u2019s leading sexual, domestic and family violence response and recovery services \u2013 said it was important to remember that this was a human story first, not a football story.<\/p>\n

While there are challenges for reporting these topics, especially when there is a police investigation under way, Bevan said, there is someone at the centre who felt impacted enough to report an incident to police.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Matthew<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are victim-survivors of sexual assault everywhere. If it\u2019s not us, it\u2019s our friends, our colleagues, it\u2019s in our community, so we know those victim-survivors are watching, and they\u2019re watching stories be silenced, and it\u2019s hurtful for them,\u201d Bevan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is a really challenging conversation, but it\u2019s not challenging to admit that people are distressed, that they feel harmed, that it impacts the broader community. The central story isn\u2019t a sports story, it\u2019s actually a story of an alleged sexual assault, which is serious, and that has to be treated with respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

The investigation into the alleged sexual assault is ongoing. No charges have been laid, and the players have denied wrongdoing, according to a source familiar with the players\u2019 position.<\/p>\n

Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham and chief executive Matthew Pavlich apologised at a media conference on Wednesday for the separate behaviour that culminated in the suspension of the five players, before the players themselves issued an apology via a statement.<\/p>\n

Pavlich said they were \u201cdeeply embarrassed and ashamed\u201d by the choices of the players and \u201cthe impact that\u2019s had on the women involved and also the club\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"SydneySydney Swans players Riley Bice, Nick Blakey, Isaac Heeney, James Jordon and Chad Warner have all been stood down for the remainder of the season in the wake of sexual assault allegations.Nine<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s Governor-General, Sam Mostyn<\/a>, said she was shocked and troubled by the sexual assault allegation while warning that a lack of respect for women across the country remained a problem, particularly in sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt times like this, we are reminded to never take for granted the need for constant vigilance for respectful treatment of women everywhere; across clubs, the AFL, sport, and the community generally,\u201d Mostyn said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Governor-General<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing in moments like this is to fully accept responsibility, be accountable and take appropriate action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sydney fan Ellie Wilkes, 26, said the recent sexual assault allegation was among a number of factors that made it difficult to be a female or non-binary AFL fan at times.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou like to think of your club as having a better culture than the rest, but as women and minorities within the AFL community know too well, it\u2019s never too long before you\u2019re let down once again, by the actions of these insanely privileged men that you put so much of your time and passion into,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Swans standing down the players involved is an important first step, but it is also the bare minimum. How they handle it from here will greatly impact how I support the men\u2019s team going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilkes said it was a good time to focus on the Swans AFLW team, who \u201cneed our support now more than ever\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sunday marks the first double-header in the Swans\u2019 history, with the AFLW team playing at the SCG ahead of the men.<\/p>\n

Boney said she would still attend Sunday\u2019s match to show support to the men\u2019s and women\u2019s players who would take to the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll still be there on Sunday, on what was supposed to be an historic day for the club. But I\u2019ll be there to support the women of the Swans and the AFLW, who I imagine are processing all of this alongside the rest of us,\u201d Boney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupporting a club doesn\u2019t mean looking away when it fails to live up to its values. It means expecting it to live by them. Culture has to be more than something we celebrate when we\u2019re winning. If there is a gap between the values the club professes and the culture that actually exists, then we need to confront that honestly and be prepared to change it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lifelong Swans fan Karen Hartwick said the image she had of the club she adored had been shattered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still can\u2019t comprehend it,\u201d she said. \u201cAfter 70 years of loyalty, it\u2019s like something\u2019s died inside me. I honestly don\u2019t know that I even want to have anything to do with the Bloods again \u2026 I don\u2019t think the club is going to be the same again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AFLWAFLW commentator Chyloe Kurdas.<\/p>\n

AFLW commentator Chyloe Kurdas said she was deeply disappointed to learn the culture in some football clubs had not shifted as much as she had hoped, and called for other players in the team to throw their support behind women and girls.<\/p>\n

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\"BillieBillie Eder<\/a> is a sports reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.\"BridgetBridget McArthur<\/a> is a sports affairs reporter at The Age, covering the intersection of sports and politics\/business\/economy\/society.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 20, 2026 \u2014 5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-861252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}