A local Victorian footballer has claimed he is the victim of racism after he was suspended for using a homophobic slur during a suburban football game.
Kinglake Football Club ruckman Brad Fisk sued the Northern Football Netball League for human rights breaches after he claimed an opposition water boy called him a ‘black c***’.
Fisk also alleged the water boy said ‘you’re not black, you’re a dickhead’ during Kinglake’s round four game against Reservoir at Kinglake Memorial Oval on May 2.
He took his case to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal after he was reported and subsequently suspended for five games for directing a homophobic slur at the water boy.
Fisk had the matter brought on for an interim injunction application on Wednesday so that he could play football this weekend.
Fisk said he was issued a ‘red card’ by the umpire after the game for the homophobic slur but denied uttering the ‘offending comment’.
NFNL player Brad Fisk, who plays for Kinglake Football Netball Club, has sued the league. (The team is represented above, though it is not suggested that anyone pictured is involved)
Northern Football Netball League CEO Daniel Kelly (above) was present at the VCAT hearing
‘If the umpire on the field had heard a homophobic comment, you would’ve been issued a red card immediately, paid a free kick against me and I would’ve been sent off for the rest of the game,’ Fisk told the VCAT hearing.
Fisk claimed he was accused of the uttering the homophobic slur at the three-minute mark of the last quarter in the game won by Reservoir.
He said he reported the alleged racial vilification to an umpire at the same time but wasn’t informed of the homophobic slur allegation until after the match had finished.
‘If the umpire heard the slur at the three-minute mark of the last quarter of when I have noted to him immediately of the [alleged racial slur], I’m not going to repeat it here with media present as well, but a black C,’ Fisk said.
‘And then being told “you’re not black, you’re just a dickhead”, both are racial vilification comments, both are racist, and I reported that straight to the field umpire [at the time]… the victimisation is what has caused this.’
Fisk said the incident sparked after a Kinglake Indigenous player was ‘put through the fence’ by a Reservoir player.
He also alleged the water boy had been abusive towards Kinglake players throughout the match.
VCAT member Michael Bevan asked Fisk to clarify if he thought the homophobic slur came about by a case of mistaken identity.
Barrister Lewis Winter, for the NFNL, said it would be an ‘extraordinary step for VCAT to intervene in the tribunal process’ and that it would be of ‘deep concern’ to the AFL
‘That could be one avenue, or the fact it’s not actually happened… and the umpire’s actually just confused about the fact that I’m the one who’s made the report to him that I’ve been racially vilified at the three-minute mark and I said I’ll take it up after the game,’ Fisk said.
Fisk, who claimed his ‘reputation has been crushed to pieces’, said the water boy was a Reservoir Football Club ‘official’.
Barrister Lewis Winter, for the NFNL, told the tribunal that granting an injunction ‘would be an extraordinary remedy’.
‘The tribunal should exercise caution in its determination whether or not to grant an interim injunction,’ Mr Winter said.
‘It is the case, member, that when Mr Fisk first raised this allegation, my understanding, and I’m reliably informed, it was towards the end of this [NFNL] tribunal hearing and critically, member, it was after these witnesses had given evidence.
‘And the water-carrier, who is alleged to have racially vilified Mr Fisk, has given evidence at that hearing, he was not cross-examined at that hearing, the allegation was not put to him, quite curiously in my submission.
‘Mr Fisk also didn’t raise this allegation… in the written statement, in response to the breach notice issued by the league.
‘When Mr Fisk raised this issue, he was advised by the tribunal, that the league – and it has been reinforced – that the league takes this issue very seriously, as it does take any kind of vilification issue very seriously.
‘And that includes, for example, the use of a homophobic slur during a football match which Mr Fisk was found guilty of that offence through a tribunal hearing where evidence was called.’
Mr Winter said the NFNL was willing to investigate Fisk’s racial slur claims.
‘He had the opportunity to respond and the league has made it very clear that it will investigate this issue and it will, if necessary, go through the same processes as it did in relation to the incident which Mr Fisk was ultimately found guilty of…
‘Even if Mr Fisk is ultimately successful in his claim, and it was found he was vilified by that water-carrier on the day, it does not absolve him of the fact that he used a homophobic slur… it might explain why Mr Fisk did what he did but it doesn’t absolve him.’
Mr Winter also said an injunction could open a can of worms for the AFL.
Fisk has taken his case against the Northern Football Netball League (logo pictured) to VCAT
‘AFL Victoria, including the broader AFL community in Victoria, is very concerned about a dangerous precedent which may be set by this case… so merely, Mr Fisk can effectively play football and not serve out his suspension…,’ Mr Winter said.
‘It would be an extraordinary step for VCAT to intervene in the tribunal process that is mandated by the by-laws, that has been followed correctly, and effectively override that decision.
‘A VCAT member… to essentially come over the top of that tribunal and override everything that has happened is of deep concern to the AFL and it would likely result in a wide scale review of by-laws and numerous meetings and great concern over the integrity of the tribunal and disciplinary processes.
‘The inconvenience to Mr Fisk, and he may have further to say about this, but it seems to me limited to whether or not he can play football this weekend.’
Fisk alleged that NFNL CEO Daniel Kelly – who was present during the hearing – rang the Kinglake club president.
He also claimed he was told to ‘just leave it alone’ and take the five-game suspension handed down by the tribunal.
Fisk also claimed the league advocate ‘continued to prevent us from questioning’ the water boy during his tribunal hearing.
‘One of the comments was that “he’s not on trial here, your player is”. Well, I’m sorry if you’re testing evidence and you made a comment in regards to what’s gone in and you’re trying to suspend someone, then you are on trial,’ Fisk told the VCAT hearing.
Fisk, who has missed two games of the five-game suspension, also said he had ‘no faith’ in the league’s tribunal.
‘Only some six or eight weeks beforehand, you’ve got a tribunal that’s dismissing reports of racism in the Northern Football League,’ he claimed.
‘I have no faith in the tribunal, no one in the Indigenous community does. The fact they had people dancing around like gorillas and calling them monkeys and that was tossed out, saying “this never happened”… racism is rife.’
Member Bevan refused the injunction but indicated the substantive hearing of Fisk’s human rights case can still go forward.
‘The evidence that was put forward doesn’t give me a lot to go on in terms of there being a connection between your race and the actual suspension that was put forward by the NFNL,’ Member Bevan said.
Mr Bevan suggested the next steps towards a compulsory conference but this fired Fisk up.
‘I obviously can’t play without an injunction put in place at this point in time… Racism is still the key indication in this matter and prevention of that,’ Fisk said, adding that he ‘won’t have anything to do with the CEO’ and condemning the NFNL ‘tribunal’s actions’.
The matter will return at a later date.
