1 February 2021, Holden Centre, Melbourne, Victoria
Today is a historic and proud day for the Collingwood Football Club. I club that includes two senior AFL team, two netball teams, two AFL women’s teams, the Collingwood wheelchair team, and the Collingwood Reclink team, members supporters, sponsors.
Eight teams, representing our myriad of life, all drawn from our collective identity of Collingwood, and today we embrace a leadership position on what is the most fundamental of rights – equality. To be who you are based on your abilities and character and nothing else.
In doing so we have spent the last six years in particular in a deep dive into how we can make ourselves better, first up, and then to provide leadership and conversation in the community as only Collingwood can.
Now this is an area fraught with danger and recriminations. But we have decided as a club that this fight, against racism, against discrimination of all types, is where we want to be.
To acknowledge our place in the wider community’s lack of understanding at times, and to put in place not just good intentions, but even greater time effort and resources to provide assistance to achieve our goals.
We make mistakes, we learn, we strive to be better.
But in working to build this club into the position it is today, to be able to make these announcements, we will continue to be a leading light in our community.
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.