Collingwood president has full faith in CEO Craig Kelly following allegations of racial discrimination

Collingwood president Jeff Browne says he has full faith in chief executive Craig Kelly following allegations he made slurs and jokes about Indigenous culture.

Warning: This story contains language that some audience members may find distressing.

The football club is being sued by its former head of First Nations strategy, Mark Cleaver, according to documents filed in the Federal Circuit and Family Court.

Mr Browne said today that a review of the allegations found no breach of workplace laws, and that he had full faith in Mr Kelly.

“Totally and absolutely,” he said.

The court documents outline a series of alleged incidents involving Mr Kelly, including accusations that he described a female Indigenous elder as “a dumb old b***h”.

Mr Cleaver, who is non-binary and described himself in his application as a First Nations person who is gay, in a same-sex relationship and suffers from multiple sclerosis, alleged he suffered “hurt, humiliation and distress” and “economic loss” after the club terminated his employment in May this year.

A man wearing a suit looks away from the camera seriously.
Collingwood CEO Craig Kelly has been named in the court documents.(ABC News: Patrick Rocca)
He also alleged the club breached several laws, including the discrimination acts around race, disability and equal opportunity.

Addressing the allegations on Wednesday, Mr Browne said they were “very serious”, and that the club would defend them in court.

“The allegations are not new to us, they were made initially under the whistleblower policy, which was one of the recommendations of the Do Better report,” he said.

The “Do Better” review was released in 2021, after allegations of a culture of discrimination in the club.

The independent review found the club was guilty of systematic racism and handed down 18 recommendations to the club, including a process of truth telling.

Mr Browne said the allegations had been investigated “very thoroughly by our head of people and culture”, before he referred the matter to a third party who “confirmed the findings”.

“I also referred those factual findings to an external expert in workplace relations. The findings were that there was no illegal conduct identified in the complaint,” he said.