Apologetic AFL missed point in Indigenous immunisation debacle

THE messages to the Whats App group started flying thick and fast on Friday night.

Those involved in the conversation included some of the AFL’s greatest Indigenous players, past and present, with focus on a requirement for all Aboriginal players to have a pneumococcal vaccination to enter the Queensland hubs. Several were confused. Others were downright angry that they had to have an extra injection, and not their white teammates. The consensus being that an explanation was required immediately.

The AFLPA was already on the case.

They players’ union had heard rumblings about the issue and weren’t happy they’d been kept in the dark about the medical requirement.

By Saturday morning, there were a flurry of phone calls and

Zoom meetings between AFL heavyweights, the AFLPA, multiple players and several distressed family members.

In one meeting, involving the league’s general manager of inclusion and social policy Tanya Hosch, a reference was made to the AFL operating without a Reconciliation Action Plan: “If you had a RAP, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”

By this stage the players were still under the impression it was a Queensland Government directive to have the vaccination in order to gain entry into the state.

A text message sent out by one club doctor said: “Unfortunately the QLD government has mandated that it is required for Indigenous footy players entering QLD.”

But when the story broke on Saturday afternoon, the Queensland Government was quick to put facts on the table.

A Queensland Health spokesman said: “The decision for some players to have pneumococcal vaccinations was made by the relevant sporting code. People can apply for relevant exemptions directly with the sporting code.”

Eventually an unprecedented apology came out of AFL headquarters but even that left more questions than answers, with the league’s suggestion it was just a “communication breakdown” annoying the unsettled playing group.