AFL clubs push for stand on violence against women

AFL clubs, led by West Coast, are urging the competition to make a statement against violence against women in the lead-in or during this weekend’s round of matches.

West Coast chief executive Don Pyke wrote to AFL bosses Andrew Dillon and Laura Kane calling for the AFL and clubs to make an organised and coordinated statement this weekend condemning violence against women.

Pyke’s initiative, which was circulated in a letter to all clubs, was backed by North Melbourne’s CEO Jennifer Watt, who referred to the difficulty that North Melbourne had experienced in finding appropriate services aimed at improving the behaviour of former player Tarryn Thomas.

West Coast boss Don Pyke.

In his letter, Pyke raised the idea of the players from all clubs wearing orange armbands. But a senior official from another club said that the clubs were yet to work out what kind of gesture would be fitting, but that there was strong support for a statement.

One club boss also posed whether the AFL and clubs could make a more far-reaching contribution to the issue than just using the public forum of this weekend’s games.

In his correspondence, new West Coast boss Pyke also mentioned the death of a woman in Perth in recent days and the current national climate that has led to major protests in capital cities – and large turnouts – condemning the continued killings of women by men.

Prime Minister Albanese has called a snap national cabinet meeting about violence against women on Wednesday to address growing community uproar about rates of violence against women. In 2024, a woman has been violently killed every four days – a significantly higher rate than in recent years.

The Prime Minister attended a march calling for action against violence against women in Sydney on the weekend.

Thomas was sacked by the Kangaroos for inappropriate behaviour towards women earlier this year and is serving an 18-match AFL-imposed suspension. Thomas has to complete an education course before the AFL consents to allowing him to be registered to play again, but he cannot return to the AFL in 2024 due to the timing of his suspension.

Thomas was suspended by North Melbourne in 2023 and initially charged by police with threatening to distribute an intimate image before prosecutors agreed to drop the charge in July and replaced it with another offence of using a carriage service to harass. He did not record a conviction for a criminal offence.

Police have not charged Thomas for any of the subsequent incidents from 2024 that led to his AFL suspension.

The AFL has a partnership with Our Watch, the national organisation committed to preventing violence against women and children.

Our Watch CEO Patty Kinnersly is also a member of the Carlton board and has been influential in shaping the “Carlton Respects” program, which promotes gender equality and was developed, according to the club, “in response to the alarming statistics around family and domestic violence in Australia”.

The deaths of 26 women in the first 114 days of this year equated to one every 4.38 days. “We are looking at a shocking rate of violent deaths of women this year that exceeds anything Australia has experienced in recent years,” Kinnersly said last week. “The community, men and women, are demanding that this ends, and ends now.”