Correct. For reference below, once the HFC had the report outlining serious allegations they were duty bound by the AFL’s protocol to hand over the report to the AFL integrity unit.
The allegations are anonymous, so why wouldn't he take the 'innocent until proven guilty' viewpoint if his account as the captain of the club did not have any evidence to suggest these allegations are conclusive?
And that is a problem for you? How?
Quite possibly - then his support for Clarkson/Fagan might be guided by knowledge of the character of the individual(s) making the allegations. Although I see Hodge's support for Clarkson/Fagan as withholding judgement / continuing support for them until the investigation concludes based on his account of his experience and their track record - it hardly arrives at Clarkson and Fagan as innocent, but isn't that the point of completing a proper investigation?
He most certainly has not taken sides in this. He has just stated that through his experiences with the accused (some through some challenging times) that he felt the need to be showing support right back. What I got out of this is Hodgey knowing full well that he's going to be criticised for showing that support but is prepared to do so anyway.
I suspect the support for the players and families making the allegations would most likely be much greater if they weren't under the veil of anonymity.
Yeah I've read the statement.
People in this thread view it as taking sides. It doesn’t matter what his intentions are here. He kicked the hornets nest.
This is not about reading the room. it is about describing what he knew and experienced. People who fall into the trap of reading the room rather than addressing the issue are the ones more concerned with power and popularity than the truth.
I'm 45 years old and born in South Africa (look very similar to Michael Walters from Freo) so I think I know full well a thing or too about racism. I have no problem whatsover with anything that Hodge said in his statement. Should he have kept his support private? Well that was up to him and I respect him for putting his head on the chopping block. Also he might not have shown support for the accusers in that statement but had already done so previously and that's not what that (the statement) was about as it was meant for the accused.
You get that horrible people all have character witnesses yeah?
So let me get this right in that what your'e saying is that Hodge a) has chosen a side b) hasn't shown support to the accusers? How do you know this and how do you know that he hasn't shown support to all parties? To be fair without knowing exactly who the accusers are it is actually impossible for him to show any support for them outside of what he has done already (see below).
He's from Colac.
In response to more recent articles talking about the controlling nature of the coaches in question, not just to the indigenous players in question. A public statement wasn't a great idea but let's not draw this long string of racism or taking sides. Not everything is black and white.
Apparently a habitual fence sitter because he hasn't chosen a side
