Exclusive details of two reports into the Hawthorn racism scandal have been revealed.
News Corp revealed the findings on Thursday, only days after mediation talks officially broke down.
Two separate reports by Justice John Middleton and Gordon Legal suggested there was “no basis whatsoever” that a subculture of racism existed at Hawthorn from 2008-2015.
The reports led to the AFL Commission terminating a four-person independent panel which was launched to investigate the claims.
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Both reports called on the AFL to end its probe.
It was also suggested in the reports that some of the most damning claims – including that a player and his partner were pressured to terminate a pregnancy could not be substantiated.
The period just before Christmas, 2022, can also be revealed as a key period in the scandal when the accused – Alastair Clarkson, Chris Fagan and Jason Burt – were first given detailed statements from the First Nations complainants.
To read the full inside story from Michael Warner, click here.