Collingwood club to finally review refers Heritier Lumumba's racism allegations

Nearly three years after former player Héritier Lumumba first made allegations about racism that he experienced while playing AFL at Collingwood FC, the club is to launch an internal investigation into the claims.

The club has advised that it is seeking "independent expertise" to help its integrity committee investigate the matter.

Lumumba, who retired from the game in 2016 after repeated concussion problems, took to social media this month to highlight 2017 allegations of a racist culture at the club.

In a statement on Monday night, Collingwood said it would refer Lumumba's latest allegations to its club integrity committee, which is composed of members of the Collingwood board and executive.

Collingwood Director Jodie Sizer said the club would like to talk with and listen to Lumumba, whose truth was "a critical part of this", stating “this is a serious issue. As a board we have come together and unanimously agreed we need to take action.

"From my perspective the whole of Australia is on an important journey as it deals with racism, the impacts of racism and considers what, as a nation, we want to be and are to become.

"Collingwood is also on its own journey and important to both quests is truth telling.

"Understanding the truth, owning the truth and supporting those in sharing their truths is a key next step for any action."

Earlier this month, Lumumba had called on Collingwood to publicly acknowledge the "fundamental facts" about the culture at the club and the way he was treated.

He reiterated that he was called ‘Chimp’ by Collingwood teammates, an allegation which was publicly backed up by Andrew Krakouer in 2017.

He also said he was abruptly dropped from the team's leadership group after publicly criticising Collingwood President Eddie McGuire over an offensive comment McGuire made on radio about Adam Goodes in 2013.

Lumumba, who spent 10 years as a Magpies player, tweeted “in my final (leadership) meeting, I was told it was because I had 'thrown the president under the bus'.

"In short, I was punished as a Black man for daring to stand up for myself against slurs from my own teammates.

"I was punished for being upset that my club president had associated an Indigenous champion of the game with an ape as a joke on radio."

Lumumba, who left Collingwood at the end of 2014 before finishing his 223-game career with Melbourne, accused the club of “shifting the narrative” in its claim of trying to reach out to him in recent weeks but the club says it will continue its attempts to contact him.

Image: Heritier Lumumba. Credit: Michael Wilson/AFL Media.