SafeWork SA has cleared the Adelaide Crows of any breach of work health and safety laws after an investigation into the club’s controversial 2018 preseason training camp.
Key points:
- An Adelaide Crows preseason camp caused ructions among the playing group
- SafeWork SA has cleared the club of breaching any workplace safety laws
- It will not reveal details of its investigation
The psychologically-stressful camp in the months after the Crows’ AFL grand final loss caused lingering tensions within the playing group and had a negative impact on Indigenous players.
In a statement, the Crows said SafeWork SA — the South Australian government’s workplace safety regulator — had “cleared the Adelaide Football Club of any wrongdoing in relation to its preseason training camp in 2018”.
“SafeWork SA’s comprehensive investigation, which took more than a year to complete, found neither the club nor any other person or organisation, breached any work health and safety laws during or in relation to the camp,” it said.
“The club fully cooperated with the confidential investigation, voluntarily providing all information and documentation sought by SafeWork SA. The matter is now closed.”
The camp was run by Collective Mind, which calls itself a “mind performance company”.
While SafeWork SA said it had not found any breach of the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 relating to the camp, it said it would not release any details of the investigation.
“SafeWork SA does not provide detail on investigation matters and will not do so in this case,” it said.
“The confidentiality provisions in the WHS Act specifically prevent the disclosure of information acquired during the course of the investigation.”
Camp was still a focus in 2020
Last year then-coach Don Pyke addressed the media, wanting to put the discussion on the camp to bed.
“It’s probably disappointing it’s continuing to be discussed. Clearly, the club’s viewpoint is that they want to move on,” he told ABC Grandstand.
“I know talking to some of the players who are still there, clearly they want to leave that behind and focus on the footy going forward.
“I think it’s probably a conversation that’s due with the club about how they want to address this once and for all.”
While refusing to get into details about what went on at the Gold Coast camp, Pyke admitted it had its problems.
“As I’ve said previously, the intention around that camp was very clear,” he said.
“The execution had some gaps and holes and some mistakes were made and that’s been addressed.
“But I think there’s also an issue at the moment with some context around some of the things that were done and the purpose behind them, which probably hasn’t been tabled.”
Source: AFL NEWS ABC
