A former Hawthorn player and his wife are considering legal action following the club's response to its Cultural Safety Review, suggesting they were left "purposefully abandoned" and feeling "vulnerable and re-traumatised".
It comes as the couple's lawyer, Judy Courtin, released a statement on their behalf criticising the club for dishonouring its public support of an investigation into the racism scandal late last year.
"We feel that Hawthorn and the AFL have attempted to wipe their hands clean of us, and worse, to blame us for what happened to us," the couple said in the statement.
"They have publicly stated that they are supporting us, but in private, we feel torment at every turn. Often, we are obtaining information via the media.
"We feel abandoned by the very club that was promising to understand and address our hurt and trauma."
The couple indicated that the way they have allegedly been treated since the scandal broke was "just as significant" as past events.
"This is just as significant the second time around as the events of the past - perhaps more so now as we are left sitting in our pain, re-traumatised and feeling blamed and invalidated.
"Once again, we feel as though our voices are being silenced or controlled in processes that are not independent or safe. We are fearful, scared, intimidated and all of the feelings from the past are, once again, so familiar."
The couple participated in the club's internal review and have now alleged experiencing "additional and ongoing harm" since, highlighting the unauthorised publication of the review's report.
"The leaked copy of the report included emails and testimonies of the participants, some of which described their panic, pain and desperation," Dr Courtin said.
"These documents were marked 'private and confidential'. Their publication served no public interest and only caused further trauma and continue to do so."
Having previously declined to be involved in the AFL-commissioned investigation that followed Hawthorn's Cultural Safety Review, Dr Courtin reiterated the couple's refusal to participate, pointing to the "hurt and trauma" experienced by the pair and claiming the investigation "cannot be independent".
"Our clients are not participating in the AFL independent investigation of allegations of inappropriate treatment of Hawthorn Football Club players and their families," she said.
"This AFL investigation cannot be independent. It is paid for by the AFL and it is the AFL that decides if there are to be punitive measures, or not.
"Our clients, feeling exposed, vulnerable and re-traumatised, were purposefully abandoned by the very club that was pledging to understand and address their hurt and trauma – all for the eventual betterment of the club."
Dr Courtin said the former player and his partner were "forced to beg, cap in hand" for mental health support.
"It was suggested that one of our clients obtain a referral from his GP for ten publicly-funded counselling sessions at no cost to the HFC. That is, through the Medicare system," she said.
"We immediately rejected this proposition. The 'public' did not bear the responsibility for the psychiatric harm of our client.
"Nor, as the Club would (or should) well know, would Medicare cover the full cost of treatment by most psychologists. Such responsibility for the funding of the psychological treatments lay squarely, we say, with the Hawthorn Football Club."
Dr Courtin said the couple are now "considering their civil legal options".
More to come.
