the abandonment of the probe <\/a>was an interview the league\u2019s \u201cindependent\u201d investigation panel conducted with Indigenous great Shaun Burgoyne, who raised serious concerns about the inquiry and the conduct of Phil Egan \u2013 author of the explosive \u201ccultural safety review\u201d which triggered one of football\u2019s greatest scandals.<\/p>\nMr Egan is now awaiting a criminal trial in the Victorian County Court for allegedly stealing $790,000 from a body set up to help remote Aboriginal communities.<\/p>\n
The AFL\u2019s eight-month investigation into Hawthorn was shut down by former league boss Gillon McLachlan at a snap press conference in May 2023, but no proper explanation for the decision was ever given.<\/p>\n
The Herald Sun has uncovered hours of video testimony and more than 20 witness statements from Hawks players and officials that underpinned the call to terminate the probe.<\/p>\n
All of the witnesses vehemently disputed claims in Mr Egan\u2019s report that a sub-culture of racism had ever existed at the club.<\/p>\n
The statements formed the basis of a secret assessment of the evidence later conducted by a retired Federal Court judge, who found that all of the most serious claims were \u201clacking in evidence\u201d and could not be substantiated.<\/p>\n
In a written submission to the AFL panel obtained by the Herald Sun, Mr Burgoyne declares: \u201cI could not speak more highly of Mr Clarkson, Mr Fagan and Mr Burt (Hawthorn\u2019s welfare officer).<\/p>\n
\u201cI trust Mr Clarkson, Mr Fagan and Mr Burt with the life of my wife and children due to their actions over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt no time did I see, or was I subjected to, inappropriate, racist, bullying or intimidatory conduct by any of Clarkson, Fagan or Burt.\u201d<\/p>\n
In regards to devastating claims made by his Indigenous teammate Carl Peterson, who accused Mr Clarkson of ordering him to have his partner\u2019s pregnancy terminated, Mr Burgoyne told investigators: \u201cTo be honest it\u2019s all very surprising to me \u2026 as far as I can recall, Carl was always bubbly around the group. He\u2019s got an infectious personality, a big smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean to say he\u2019s happy by any stretch of the imagination because he\u2019s smiling, but no \u2013 I couldn\u2019t say I picked up on anything that he would have been unhappy with \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cCarl never came to me and said anything \u2026 not once.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bradley Hill, Burgoyne\u2019s Indigenous premiership teammate \u2013 now at St Kilda \u2013 also told investigators: \u201cMr Clarkson has always been welcoming to me and my family and always made time for me. I\u2019m still connected with him and still talk to him to this day. He is someone I am very thankful to have in my life. I don\u2019t have a bad thing to say about Mr Clarkson, Mr Fagan or Mr Burt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Burgoyne told the panel he was concerned the Hawthorn probe would have a \u201cdetrimental impact\u201d on Aboriginal players with problems of \u201cgreat magnitude\u201d in their personal lives should clubs avoid offering help \u201cout of fear\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s my big concern going forward \u2013 how does this process actually help future kids coming through?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is going to make things more murkier to help players, especially those who have troubles in their life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
During a one-hour interview with the AFL investigation panel, Mr Burgoyne \u2013 one of the most respected Indigenous players to ever play the game \u2013 raised major red flags over Egan\u2019s conduct in compiling his report which accused Mr Clarkson, Mr Fagan and Mr Burt of systemic racism and the ordering the abortion of unborn babies.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the whole process with Mr Egan \u2026 he never once tape-recorded it \u2013 it was just a conversation,\u201d Burgoyne said of his face-to-face meeting with Egan in Adelaide in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sat at a table and I found it very unusual that he would interview me for such a highly important document that\u2019s going to shape a lot of things, purely by memory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have thought you needed to record it, tape it, take notes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have concerns with that \u2026 and my concerns were if you\u2019re going to do the process \u2013 do it right \u2013 don\u2019t be flawed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Burgoyne also detailed to the panel a conversation he had with four-time premiership teammate Cyril Rioli after he retired in May 2018 where he said the alleged conduct of the accused Hawthorn officials was not discussed.<\/p>\n
The AFL investigation panel received more than 20 verbal and written statements on behalf of the accused from Hawthorn players including Luke Hodge, Jarryd Roughead, Luke Breust, Isaac Smith, James Frawley, Josh Gibson, Liam Shiels, Ryan Schoenmakers, Jonathon Ceglar, Brad Sewell, Max Bailey, Matthew Spangher, Xavier Ellis and Hill.<\/p>\n
In his submission, Mr Hodge declared of Mr Clarkson: \u201cThe allegations I have read in the paper in the lead up to this inquiry simply do not stack up to the man I know\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy working relationship with Mr Fagan was also as good as any I have had. I would not have been the leader I am today without him. He is also the first person I called after I had been pulled over for driving over the limit (in 2015).<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were not many people I would trust to call in that situation, but Mr Fagan was certainly one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Hodge said he had agreed to \u201cuplift my family\u201d and come out of retirement to play under Fagan at Brisbane at age 33 because of the \u201ctrust\u201d he had in the former Hawthorn football boss. <\/p>\n
Mr Hodge added: \u201cMy observations were that Mr Clarkson cared greatly about including Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and First Nation players at Hawthorn. I do not believe he would compromise this progress by allowing misconduct like what has been alleged to occur at HFC.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Gibson, a triple premiership player at the Hawks under Clarkson and Fagan, told the panel: \u201cBoth men were, and continue to be, father figures to me. I am a person of colour and identify as a First Nations player \u2026 as someone who was part of the leadership group at the time, I know that I would never sweep the mistreatment of players, regardless of background, under the carpet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not believe that Mr Burgoyne would stand for it or hide such conduct either.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Sewell also said: \u201cMy memory is that Mr Clarkson, Mr Fagan and Mr Burt were father figures to many of the young men at the club and in my opinion that is part of how they created a culture of sustained success.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember Mr Burt going to visit Amos Frank\u2019s family in remote South Australia as an example of this motivation for cultural understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Roughead told the panel that Clarkson would sometimes ask players questions about their private lives but \u201cnever\u201d intervened. <\/p>\n
Mr Schoenmakers said Clarkson\u2019s efforts in building relationships with the Indigenous players \u201cstood out very clearly throughout my entire career\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Ceglar stated: \u201cMy opinion is that the allegations that have been aired that led up to this investigation could not be further from the truth\u201d.<\/p>\n
The four-person investigation panel led by Bernard Quinn KC was suddenly wound up after the league struck a deal with lawyers for the complainants which absolved the AFL of any future legal action.<\/p>\n
The scandal dragged on to the Australian Human Rights Commission before an undisclosed financial resolution was agreed between the parties in late 2024.<\/p>\n
The Herald Sun has since revealed that the AFL commissioned two secret reports into the Hawks saga \u2013 separate to the work of the independent investigation panel \u2013 which found \u201ca startling lack of evidence\u201d in the cases alleged against Clarkson, Fagan and Burt.<\/p>\n
The reports, authored by retired Federal Court judge John Middleton and Gordon Legal concluded that the gravest allegation \u2013 that an Indigenous player and his partner were pressured to terminate a pregnancy \u2013 could not be substantiated. <\/p>\n
A claim that the Hawks had demanded the separation of another First Nations family for the sake of the player\u2019s career was also considered to be \u201clacking in evidence\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Egan was engaged to conduct a review into the treatment of Indigenous players at Hawthorn after Mr Rioli and wife Shannyn Ah Sam-Rioli went public with claims of racism against the club in April 2022.<\/p>\n
Mr Clarkson was appointed coach of North Melbourne just days before the racism allegations surfaced.<\/p>\n
He was sacked by the Roos last week with friends saying he has never recovered from the fallout.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bombshell tapes and documents from the AFL\u2019s Hawthorn racism probe \u2013 hidden until today \u2013 have exposed 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