The media commentary that came in the wake of what became known as the "Lez" incident was savage. After words of warning to Buckley and other leaders, he stood before the team and finally tore off the scab, sharing his personal history, explaining his discomfiture with not only the racist joking but the homophobic use of terms like "poofter", "f****t" and "homo". 4-min read. The way I was targeted for simply mentioning Ali's significance to me was yet another example of how the culture attacks black identity. "This is the only way forward," he told himself. Lumumba says he was three months into life as an AFL player when the racist jokes began on training grounds, in locker rooms and anywhere else that Collingwood players gathered en masse. The resultant front page article seemed like something quirky on a slow news day all the better with news from AFL headquarters that chief executive Andrew Demetriou had escalated the request to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. It meant all things 'team': solidarity, fraternity, supporting your mate. In the streets of Collingwood. He says his name now lies at the heart of his identity, reconnecting him with Africa, giving him strength in a world that has historically abused and undermined his people. That changed in late 2020, when the ABC published an in-depth interview, the results of months of research. One thing is certain: nobody lived the Collingwood ideal more earnestly than Hritier Lumumba, taking to heart the club's origin story as a beacon of hope to the impoverished underclasses of Collingwood the gritty inner-northern suburb in which Lumumba alone among Pies players chose to make his home. "It's a stark contrast to when I was playing football and being called 'chimp' on a daily basis, isn't it?". "He instilled a sense of pride in me and set a powerful example for demanding change.". Then he came to love the melting pot of cultures and creeds and the daily parade of humanity in all its forms. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. In football, we love to celebrate a great story the Aboriginal footballer recently released from prison, the powerhouse from the Tiwi Islands, the cheeky little bugger snapping goals from insane angles. He said he would not return until Buckley apologised. It had darker undertones too. When Lumumba was 23, Malthouse labelled him a "future captain". 'Over the course of an hour, we answered every question but in my opening I got it wrong. 'I did not mean we were proud of past incidents of racism and the hurt it caused. I'm proud to be on Tongva land.". Seven months earlier, during the AFL's Indigenous round, a 13-year-old Collingwood supporter had labelled Sydney's Indigenous champion Adam Goodes an "ape", sparking a national furore that was exacerbated when McGuire made his immortally offensive joke, likening Goodes to King Kong. But as far as I'm concerned, it's clear what the club's position is. It came at considerable cost. "The club is defensive and angry," Caroline Wilson wrote. 'It was disturbing to see how easily Eddie and the CFC board members reduced the severity of this ''profound and enduring harm'' to mere ''mishaps'' - as if they were talking about spilling tea on a couch rather than being found guilty of years of systemic racism.'. One night, he says he was ambushed by two security guards at Collingwood's training facility and had his parking pass forcibly removed from his hands, trapping him in the carpark until a teammate returned from home to let him out. Riot police arrived with rubber bullets, batons and tear gas. "I began to understand that I belonged to a global people," Lumumba says. Yet Behrendt has no investigative powers. McGuire accepted his penance, but behind closed doors at Collingwood, Lumumba says he was made to feel a pariah, undermined by the club and mauled by the press. 'The report clearly states that during Eddie's tenure as CFC president, the club's racism resulted in ''profound and enduring harm'' to many individuals, families, & communities. "We're all on a journey to do the best we can, but I think our history is pretty strong. In December 2013, Lumumba didn't change his name, he corrected it. "I didn't get one message or email from the Collingwood Football club," he says. Two hundred metres away, a 33-year-old man and his wife anxiously peered out their window, their one-year-old son playing with a toy truck. We celebrate what they bring to our game. Trouble, however, was brewing. He played in numbers 43, 30 and his final number 8. 'I don't take orders from Nathan Buckley': Lumumba will not release "I want to meet Obama too," said a reader letter in the Herald Sun. He was 18 years old and adjusting to life on the Collingwood rookie list. Later, he would hear the same words from the mouths of club staff. 12:52 BST 07 Feb 2021 When Lumumba arrived on the AFL scene at the end of 2004, much was made of his Brazilian nationality but little of his African ethnicity. The contrast between Lumumba's life at Collingwood and the black culture and thought that surrounds him now could not be more stark. 'Shameful': Hritier Lumumba condemns Eddie McGuire's response to At Collingwood, he focused on survival. "This is my personal experience and I have to do this in the public eye and it's really tough," Lumumba told reporters. "His performance caught the eye of the Jongo Bassan da Serrinha community, which my mother was a part of.". None of the insults could prepare him for the events of 2013. After the McGuire incident in May, Lumumba says Collingwood didn't see fit to further educate its players. Nathan Buckley remains confused by what Heritier Lumumba wants to achieve in the Collingwood premiership player's long-running dispute with his former AFL club. I don't think there's any shame or disappointment here this is a day of pride,' he said. There, he says, he feels a greater sense of belonging. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Key points: Lumumba, Krakouer and Davis have been in 15 months of dialogue with Collingwood He claimed the Pies had no intention of acting in "good faith" Former Australian Rules footballer Hritier Lumumba is suing his former club and league over racism he says he endured in his playing career. Former Collingwood FC player, Heritier Lumumba, has described watching a press conference of club leaders responding to an unofficially released report into culture inside the organisation as . "Their lives are amongst the least valued on earth. Collingwood great Tony Shaw demanded Lumumba be ruled out of contention for the following game due to his impertinence. Only once could he coax a group of teammates down Smith Street, with its hodgepodge of dive bars and art galleries. [29][30] He was also made the ambassador to the Dalai Lama's visit to Australia in June 2011.[31]. "It's a Kikongo word for leadership.". AFL 2022: Heritier Lumumba shares further clip in Buckley feud - Yahoo! The third was the AFL and the AFLPA's capacity to effectively deal with racism, something Lumumba doubted after observing their handling of other players' complaint, particularly those of Gold Coast's Joel Wilkinson. It wasnt your typical football profile. Mr Lumumba, who has Brazilian and Congolese-Angolan heritage, first voiced his experiences in 2017. He was elevated to the senior list for season 2007. Mr Lumumba, 33, played in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 2005-2015, mostly for club Collingwood. As in five of the previous six years, his peers elected him to Collingwood's 2013 leadership group. 'Releasing the burden': Hritier Lumumba says he is walking away from Read Australias most-read columnist, the cartoons of the newspaper that bears our countrys name, or wade through social media for five minutes and tell me this is just a football problem. Now emotions reached boiling point anger expressed in a cacophony of dissent. [4] In 2009, he came 4th in the Copeland Trophy. To be unable to express oneself naturally is excruciatingly painful. His response to the hyper-masculinity and white monoculture informing Collingwood's playing group was to disappear in the off-season and travel through the Americas, the Caribbean and the African continent, connecting with their people and cultures, forever wanting more.