Former Collingwood star Heritier Lumumba has released startling recordings of two of his clashes with ex-Magpies coach Nathan Buckley as the pair butted heads over the racism furore surrounding the club.
The audio surfaced after Lumumba levelled devastating new accusations at the club on Monday, including that Buckley was fine with an assistant coach’s use of hardcore pornography in a team meeting.
The ex-Magpie also hit Buckley and former Collingwood president with more allegations that they knew about problems with racism at the club but covered it up, and that Buckley scapegoated him over the issue.
Buckley responded by telling Lumumba to release full versions of his recordings of their meetings, which the ex-Magpie refused to do, saying he no longer takes orders from his former boss.
Heritier Lumumba has released recordings of two clashes he had with ex-Magpies coach Nathan Buckley over racism at Collingwood
Eddie McGuire responded to Lumumba’s bombshell claims by saying he has never spoken to the ex-player ‘in any other terms other than pure love and affection’ and hopes he will reconcile with the club
On Thursday, McGuire responded to Lumbuma’s claims and said he still hopes the 35-year-old will return to the club one day after breaking off all ties earlier this year.
‘It’s very sad for everybody,’ McGuire said.
‘You have to remember I as very close with Heritier and have not spoken to him in any other terms other than pure love and affection over the journey. That means nothing at the moment – that is not a criticism or anything, that’s just the way I feel.
‘I just hope the door is a little bit ajar at some stage for Heritier to come back.
‘I think the welcome mat is still out but it’s his prerogative and it’s really, really sad.’
The audio recordings Lumumba has released come from 2014 – his last season with the Magpies – and addressed public comments that the defender had made about McGuire’s involvement in the controversy surrounding Adam Goodes.
After Goodes had called out a Collingwood fan for a racist comment at a game, McGuire made a comment on radio that the Swans star should be used to promote the King Kong musical.
Buckley is heard telling Lumumba he ‘threw Eddie McGuire under the bus’ over notorious comments the ex-president made about Adam Goodes on a radio show
Lumumba had gone to Collingwood’s media department requesting permission to comment publicly and that was granted, but said the club was taken aback that he criticised the club president’s statement rather than supporting it.
In the audio recording, Buckley says to Lumumba: ‘You threw him under the bus, mate.’
Lumumba intervenes: ‘I didn’t throw him under the bus, and we can’t go through that again.
‘This is part of my issue, because you still believe that, and that’s what hurts me so much Bucks, and I know you’ve carried it this whole time.’
Buckley replies: ‘What the whole thing comes back to is, do you actually think about the best interests of the football club?
‘You’ve become a bit of a rogue and you might call it leadership but you’ve basically gone on your own …. crusades at times.’
The former coach replied to the 35-year-old’s Twitter thread demanding he release the ‘full and uncut’ version of the audio clip.
‘Heritier, I offer you the opportunity to put a full and uncut version of our conversations on public record so as to provide context to our conversations and the support that was provided to you above and beyond that which could be reasonably expected in the circumstances,’ Buckley wrote.
Lumumba’s latest revelation comes after he unearthed evidence contained in a document he was going to present to the Magpies as part of the club’s ‘Do Better’ report into racism.
One of the ex-star’s most startling claims is that an assistant coach showed players a pornographic photo during a team meeting.
‘One of the team rules was to ‘come forward’, so he showed an image of a group of about five or more men ejaculating on a woman’s face with the words ‘come forward’ as a caption,’ Lumumba wrote.
‘Nathan Buckley was the head coach and seemed unfazed by it all.’
Buckley responded to Lumumba’s explosive claims about Collingwood’s culture by saying the ex-star ‘doesn’t really want to move forward’ and questioned whether he wanted ‘heads to roll’ due to his accusations
Buckley said on Monday: ‘The club have, from my understanding tried to work with Héritier and other Indigenous players, who have been part of systemic racism situations over the course of the club’s history.
‘I am happy to engage with the club however they wish, but Héritier hasn’t been satisfied with that and that’s why we are where we’re at.
‘It seems that Héritier doesn’t really want to move forward unless, I don’t know, he needs heads to roll. I don’t know exactly what he’s looking for, or what his requirements are to feel like he has been heard, because that is really what we have tried to do.’
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