Collingwood president Eddie McGuire claims he was unaware of an alleged racist nickname given to former player Heritier Lumumba and insists the club’s investigation is not part of a cynical cover up.
The Magpies on Monday announced a probe into explosive claims made by Lumumba, including that he was given the nickname ‘Chimp’ during his time at the club.
"I had the nickname Chimp between 2005 - 2013, and there was a culture of racist jokes," the 2010 premiership-winning player recently wrote on Twitter.
But speaking on Channel 9's Footy Classified, McGuire said he was unaware of the alleged nickname.
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"I didn’t know about that so much, I’ve never heard it,” McGuire told Footy Classified.
“I’m not going to discuss this because we’re doing an investigation. I know a lot of things that are going on because I’m hearing things as well.
“… My point is, we’re going to do this with compassion, we’re going to do this forensically but we’re not looking to prosecute.
“We want to find what’s gone on. I’ve spoken to some people and I’ve found different things, the nuances that I had no idea (about).”
Collingwood director Peter Murphy, chief executive Mark Anderson and club director Jodie Sizer have been appointed to the committee charged with conducting the investigation.
Critics have claimed the Magpies are merely investigating themselves.
But McGuire revealed non-Collingwood personnel will also be appointed to the committee charged with finding the truth.
“… There’s going to be independents added onto that which will be announced in the next couple of days’.
McGuire added: “This is a search for the truth, this is something that’s felt very deeply by everyone at the club and we want to find the truth and that will probably be everyone’s truth.”
Coach Nathan Buckley on Wednesday also claimed he had never heard a Collingwood player or staffer refer to Lumumba, who played 199 games for the club, as ‘chimp’.
“I can say from my perspective that I’ve learnt things today, last week, two weeks ago that I was not aware of from Heritier’s perspective,” Buckley said.
“In regards to the nickname the only mouth I’ve hear that nickname out of was Heritier’s himself when told me about it.
“That’s categoric and I suppose that’s me telling my truth but there are obviously a lot of details that need to be unearthed and shared and spoken about with an open mind and an open heart so that we can address this situation.”
