Despite a scathing report into the culture of Collingwood, Eddie McGuire will not step down early.
Despite a leaked report exposing a history of systemic racism at the Magpies, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire says he will not step down early, calling it a proud and historic day for his club.
This morning, the Herald Sun reported that in December, a 35-page report was handed to the club accusing Collingwood of encouraging systemic racism.
It claimed that the club's attempted reaction to ongoing incidents was "at best ineffective, or at worse exacerbated the impact" while even going so far as to accuse the club of "setting dangerous norms for the public."
"According to the Herald Sun, "there is a difference in what Collingwood Football Club claims it stands for and what it does," the article said.
McGuire, who will step down at the end of the 2021 season, has confirmed that he will not leave early.
"This is a historic and proud day for the Collingwood Football Club," he said.
We've spent the last six years digging deeply into how we can develop ourselves, provide group leadership and dialogue, as only Collingwood can.
"We have decided as a club that this fight against racism and discrimination is where we want to be."
Following allegations of racism, the report was commissioned by former Collingwood player Heritier Lumumba, who also refuses to sit down with his former club.
He's one of us," said McGuire. "At the moment, he doesn't believe that and it hurts our hearts. We want to see him become one of us.
We are not a club of mean-spirited people, we are not a racist club. I hope this will provoke conversation in every household tonight, in all your workplaces.
McGuire, who has been the club's president since 1998, said he was glad he was leading the way in ending racism with Collingwood.
This is an area fraught with danger and recrimination, but as a club we have agreed that where we want to be is this fight against racism, against discrimination of all kinds,"This is an area fraught with danger and recrimination but we have decided as a club that this fight against racism, against discrimination of all types is where we want to be,"
To consider our role in the lack of understanding of the broader community at times and to put in place not only good intentions but also more time, effort and money to provide the systems to achieve our objectives.
We make mistakes, we learn, we aspire to be better, but we we continue to do our utmost to be a leading light in our community by working to develop this club into a place that it is today to be able to make these announcements.
"It is why we commissioned this report, to not pay mere lip service to a worldwide tragedy but to lay the foundations for our people, our game and our community."
The club would have liked more time to consider its response to the article, McGuire said, but was forced to address the issue today after the leak to the Herald Sun.
He said he had talked to a number of club players who were "delighted" at the action that was being taken.
We are implementing all the recommendations (in the report)," explained McGuire. "In this room, we hear a lot of talk. Anything we are doing.
"We're delivering something we can build on, that we hope will be a landmark situation for the world."