Indigenous and Crows games record holder Andrew McLeod felt moved to make his opinion on the racism issue known. Earlier today he asked to record the following statement for an Adelaide radio station …
“Disappointed would be an understatement, quite simply I am very shattered that my football club has been questioned over its attitude to not recruit Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island players if they have two black parents. If this was the case and I had an inkling that my club was racist, I wouldn’t have spent 16 years in that establishment.
The likes of Bill Sanders, Steven Trigg, Phil Harper, John Reid, Malcolm Blight and Neil Craig to name but a few would and should be livid, they have gone above and beyond to recruit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players.
I simply cannot sit by and let a club I consider like family, a place that I was nurtured in and gave me an opportunity to achieve a boyhood dream without any bias or prejudice, be dragged through the mud and have its name tarnished as racist.
Regardless of the allegations or comments made or whether they were taken out of context, I’m not going to pass judgment on someone without knowing the facts, especially if I was not privy to the conversation.
What I do know is that in all my dealings with Matt Rendell, I have never seen it. We had him involved in our Aboriginal forums with the SANFL players last year and he was very good. I will be as keen as anyone to hear him explain his side of the story.
The Adelaide Football Club would be the first to put their hand up and acknowledge that in the past there would have been instances where they could have done things better in regards to the way they have handled Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players, or any other player for that matter regardless of their background.
I know for certain though that the comments being bandied around at present accusing the Adelaide Football Club of being racist are unfair and unwarranted.”
- Andrew McLeod
