Carn the Pies, But First: Footy Needs to Look in the Mirror Too

I’ll be honest with youse, this one’s not strictly an AFL story. Ralph Carr’s a music industry bloke, not a footy bloke. But when dozens of women come out and call someone ‘terrifying’, ‘creepy’ and ‘abusive’ after years of silence, it should stop every single one of us in our tracks – footy included.

Because if theres one industry that loves to talk tough about culture and ‘doing the right thing’, its ours. And I reckon this is exactly the moment to ask ourselves – are we as good as we say we are?

What actually came out

For those who missed it, former employees of Melbourne talent manager Ralph Carr have gone public with allegations of intimidation and harassment stretching back decades. One woman described sending a resignation email after years of what she called daily bullying. Carr has been convicted over separate matters, and the allegations from these women are serious and confronting.

Now I’m not here to relitigate a court case that’s got nothing to do with the footy. That’s for the legal system, not blokes like me typing away at midnight after the Pies get robbed by another dodgy holding-the-ball call.

But the pattern – young people, dazzled by an industry, too scared to speak up because their careers were on the line – that pattern isn’t exclusive to the music game. Ask anyone who’s worked in footy administration, in club media departments, in recruitment, even in the boot studs room at your local. Power imbalances exist everywhere. Footy is not immune. Never has been.

Why this hits different for a footy person

Every club has had its own reckoning at some point. Collingwood copped it in 2020 with the Do Better report and let me tell you, that was a gut-punch for even the most parochial Pies supporter like myself. It hurt. It should of hurt. Because when an independent review finds structural failings around racism and culture, you don’t get to just say ‘not my club’ and move on with your Saturday.

The AFL industry loves a slogan. Respect and Responsibility. Multicultural round. Pride round. Good on em for all of it, genuinely. But slogans dont mean anything if the blokes running the show behind closed doors are allowed to carry on like absolute units with zero accountability.

Ask yourself this – how many young staffers, young recruiters, young club employees have felt exactly what those women described? Not necessarily the same allegations, but that same fear of speaking up because your dream job is on the line?

The power imbalance is the real story

What strikes me reading about the Carr allegations is the age-old story. Young person, big dream, older bloke with all the power. Sound familiar? It should, because footy has had versions of this play out in boardrooms, in list management offices, even amongst player agents who’ve copped their own scrutiny over the years.

Clubs are getting better at HR structures, EAP programs, whistleblower policies – genuinely, credit where it’s due. But policies on paper are cheap. What happens when a rising star staffer wants to report the bloke three levels above them who happens to be mates with the CEO?

Thats the real test. Not whether you’ve got a poster in the tearoom about respectful workplaces. Its whether a 22-year-old with everything to lose feels safe enough to put their hand up.

What footy can actually learn

I’m not saying every club is hiding some dark secret. Far from it. Most clubs I reckon are run by decent people trying to do right by their staff. But ‘most’ isn’t good enough when the stakes are this high.

• Independent reporting lines that don’t run through mates networks
• Actual consequences for senior figures, not just PR statements
• A culture where young staff aren’t scared their career ends the moment they speak up

Its not rocket science. Its just uncomfortable, and uncomfortable things get avoided in footy because everyone’s worried about the brand, the sponsors, the flag chase. Believe me, I want Collingwood to win every single premiership going forward – Carn the Pies, always – but not at the cost of turning a blind eye to blokes in positions of power doing the wrong thing by staff.

The umpires can cop my complaints, the culture stuff can’t

Look, I’ll whinge about a dodgy 50m penalty against the Pies till the cows come home. Thats sport. Thats fair game, and definately something I’ll never stop doing because some weeks it genuinely feels like the whistle’s rigged against us.

But this is different. This isn’t about a contentious free kick in the last quarter. This is about whether young people – blokes and women both, if we’re honest – feel safe walking into their workplace. Footy clubs are workplaces too, not just theatres for our Saturday arvo dreams.

Where this leaves us

The Ralph Carr story will run its course through the courts and the media cycle, and rightly so – those women deserve to be heard and believed. But footy shouldn’t just read it, nod along, and go back to talking about who’s fit for Round 1.

Every club, every league, every media outlet – including this one – needs to keep asking the hard question. Are we actually as safe and accountable as we reckon we are? Or are we just good at the slogans?

I reckon footy culture has come a long way. I also reckon we’ve got a long way to go. Both things can be true at once.

Carn the Pies. But carn doing better too – for every young staffer chasing their dream in this industry, footy or otherwise.