Krakouer slams ‘racist’ Pies

A COLLINGWOOD teammate has backed Heritier Lumumba’s claim that he was nicknamed “Chimp” during his time at the AFL club.

Former small forward Andrew Krakouer said he heard Magpies players use the term in the gym, locker room and on the training track at the club’s Holden Centre headquarters on “multiple occasions”. Krakouer said he wanted to confront the offenders but was talked out of it by defender Lumumba.

Krakouer also alleged he was pressured into playing a game in May 2013 after club president Eddie McGuire directed his King Kong jibe at Sydney star Adam Goodes.

“I feel I suffered as a player due to a lack of cultural under- standing by my employer (Collingwood) and by some of my teammates,” Krakouer said from Karratha, WA.

“I didn’t get the best out of my career, especially in my final two seasons, and I feel this was somewhat due to what I experienced and how certain situations were handled by the football club.”

Of the alleged “Chimp” nickname, Krakouer said: “I remember hearing it one time and straightaway I thought it was a racist remark.

“My understanding of it, being a dark-skinned man, was that being called a chimp was a derogatory term.

“I raised that with Heritier and said: ‘That’s not right, man – these boys shouldn’t be saying that to you. It’s not right, it’s racist’.

“Heritier said: ‘Don’t worry about it, just leave it’. And I said, ‘No, man, it’s not right. Do you want me to say something?’ And he told me he didn’t feel comfortable with me getting involved.

“I respected his wishes ... but obviously I let him know that in my opinion, it was wrong, and I’m glad that he finally found the courage to say something because it was wrong and had to stop.”

In the aftermath of the McGuire-Goodes debacle, Krakouer said: “I was urged by the coaches to fly to Brisbane and play against my wishes, because I was told it would be seen as a statement against Eddie and the club. I knew when I boarded that plane that my spirits within me were broken. It was at that point I knew that I no longer belonged at Collingwood.”