Jeff Kennett has come under increasing pressure to step down as president of AFL club Hawthorn after revelations about his treatment of Cyril Rioli and the premiership star's family.
In a report in The Age on Saturday, Rioli said he will not return to the club while Kennett remains in his post.
The four-time flag hero's stance is the result of a series of issues that Rioli said fractured the relationship between Hawthorn and its Indigenous players during his time there between 2008 and 2018.
They include comments by Kennett towards Rioli's wife Shannyn Ah Sam-Rioli in 2018 that the club legend said contributed to his decision to end his career at the Hawks at the age of just 28.
It's understood that in an incident at Launceston airport Kennett made a remark about Shannyn's ripped jeans.
“I felt belittled and humiliated,” Shannyn told The Age.
“The club kept saying I was overreacting, but they were portraying me as the angry black woman. They said later I had wanted to go home to Darwin for a while. That’s not right.”
The club called a number of meetings to try and smooth things over, with Kennett texting and writing Rioli a letter, saying the jeans comment was a joke and that he would never intentionally be disrespectful to a "member of the First Peoples community."
Cyril Rioli said the incident was the "final straw".
“I’ve never really spoken about what happened in Tassie, but I think there was a lot of gaslighting at the end of my career by the club,” he told the Age.
“It opened my eyes ... seeing how they were to us.”
The Rioli's also mentioned a 2013 incident on an end-of-season trip where a senior player asked teammates whether the partner of an Aboriginal teammate was "also a b**ng".
In response to the revelations, prominent Hawthorn supporters group Hawks for Change called on Kennett to immediately step down.
Four-time flag winner Cyril Rioli said he won't return to the club while Jeff Kennett remains in his post. Source: AAP
Former Victorian premier Kennett's second term as Hawks president is due to end in December next year.
But Hawks for Change, which successfully supported former AustralianSuper boss Ian Silk in his bid to win a spot on the club's board last December, has been pressuring Kennett to set an earlier date for his departure.
Silk is one of several possible candidates to take over.
Hawthorn on Saturday released a formal apology to the Rioli family for racism they experienced at the club.
"Racism in all shapes and forms is unacceptable," the statement said.
"We are sorry that Cyril and Shannyn experienced these incidents during their time at the club.
"We are saddened these experiences have left them feeling the way they do.
"Combating racism and educating everyone both within our own walls and in the community is something we are constantly working on and believe we are getting better at."
Rioli played 189 games for Hawthorn in a glittering career that included him winning the 2015 Norm Smith Medal and three All-Australian selections.
