Another former AFL star has gone public with shocking allegations of racism during his time at Collingwood.
Andrew Krakouer broke his silence over an alleged incident in 2012 that made him unable to tolerate the team’s racist atmosphere.
The indigenous star said he overhead three teammates sharing a vile slur about Aboriginals in the locker room.
He’s the third former Magpie to speak out about alleged racism at the club after Heritier Lumumba and Leon Davis recalled similar experiences.
Krakouer, 38, described his distress and disgust of hearing the word ‘b**ng’ come up during a ‘joke’ shared by three teammates and immediately confronted the unnamed trio.
Former Collingwood star Andrew Krakouer (pictured left) is the latest former player to break his silence of alleged racism at the club
‘Straight away there were a number of emotions running through me. I was anxious, I was angry, I was annoyed… and in disbelief that I had just heard that in my own workplace and it was my own teammates who were making the racial slurs,’ Krakouer told the Herald Sun.
‘They were having a bit of a laugh and I walked over and I said: ‘Would you guys mind telling me what is so funny?’ They tried to sort of laugh it off.’
Krakouer shared the shocking incident with ‘only a handful of people’ until now.
He claims two teammates walked away while the other told him the term came from the sound made when white Australians ran over Aboriginal people in their car.
‘I was absolutely disgusted in that person’s response and the fact that it was funny to him and that it was a joke,’ he said.
Andrew Krakouer claims he overhead three teammates sharing a vile slur about Aboriginals in the locker room in 2012. He’s pictured during the 2011 AFL grand final parade
The incident left Krakouer to rethink his future at Collingwood and ponder whether the club was an unsafe place.
‘These guys were my teammates and I had to play footy with them. It was a moment where I really thought to myself, ‘what am I doing here?,’ he said.
He was delisted by Collingwood at the end of the following season in 2013 after 35 AFL games in three seasons.
Krakouer is the host of NITV AFL program Yokayi Footy, where he’s expected to open up more on his time at Collingwood when it resumes on air later this month.
Daily Mail Australia contacted the club for comment, which is yet to publicly comment on the latest claims.
Lumumba paid tribute to Krakouer for breaking his silence on Monday night.
‘I am forever grateful to my brothers Leon Davis, Andrew Krakouer, and Chris Egan for being among the first people to publicly support me when I came forward with my experiences of racism. Now they are coming forward with theirs,’ Lumumba tweeted.
‘As players who represent the [Black] history of the Collingwood Football Club, we stand united and will pursue justice going forward, so that future generations are not confronted with the exact same treatment.’
Andrew Krakouer (pictured) was delisted by Collingwood a year after the incident
Collingwood was recently rocked by the release of the Do Better report, which detailed a culture of systemic racism at the club.
The report found that the club’s response to incidents of systemic racism was not at the correct level, labelling it ‘at best ineffective, or at worst exacerbated the impact’.
Long-serving president Eddie McGuire was slammed for calling the release of the report ‘an historic and proud day for the Collingwood Football Club’ and was forced to resign a week later.
Krakouer described the Magpies’ response to the report as ‘pretty disappointing’ and believed the club could have handled it better.
The report was sparked by Lumumba’s claims about his treatment while at the club revealed in a 2017 SBS documentary titled ‘Fair Game’.
Since then he has been vocal on social media about his alleged treatment at the club – claiming that he was nicknamed ‘Chimp’ – and demanded an apology.
Former Collingwood star Heritier Lumumba (left) was the first player to speak out about alleged racism at the club. He has paid tribute to Krakouer for speaking out
Shae McNamara who spent three seasons with Collingwood, recently demanded key club figures to speak up and acknowledge Lumumba’s experience with racism.
He felt the need to speak up about Lumumba’s treatment and that the ‘total silence from all of the players who know it went on is disappointing’.
He singled out Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley, captain Scott Pendlebury and former president Eddie McGuire, as well as ex-captain Nick Maxwell and premiership midfielder Luke Ball, and wants them to validate Lumumba’s experience.
‘I have bitten my tongue for far too long and I can no longer stay silent in what has really bothered me,’ McNamara tweeted.
‘The interpersonal racism happened (i.e. racist jokes, nicknames, stereotypes etc.)
‘[Lumumba’s] not bitter because he was traded – he was traded because he wouldn’t stop addressing the toxicity in the club.