Collingwood joins the AFL industry in apologising unreservedly to Robert Muir for the racist abuse he endured across a fine career with St Kilda.
His is a story that is sad, shameful and a powerful reminder of why, as a club and code, we have important roles to play in seeking to eliminate racism from our game and our communities.
Our club, and our game, failed some of its people in the past. The damage and hurt in Robert Muir’s story, and those of others, speaks of this.
We must and can be better, an acknowledgement at the heart of Collingwood’s current review of a period in its own past. We are seeking to understand our previous experiences of racism to ensure they have no place in the current Collingwood environment.
Robert ought to be commended for the courage it took to tell all Australians of how racism made an ordeal of his football career and of how, in graphic human terms, it affects lives.
