Brennan lodges complaint with Australian Human Rights Commission over ban
Katie Brennan will miss the AFLW grand final after deciding against taking her two-game suspension to Federal Court, but the Western Bulldogs captain has filed proceedings with the Australian Human Rights Commission in a bid to overturn her ban for the 2019 season and also amend the differences between AFL and AFLW regulations.
After unsuccessfully contesting Brennan’s one-game suspension at the tribunal on Tuesday night and failing to overturn what then became a two-game ban on appeal on Thursday, Bulldogs president Peter Gordon didn’t rule out the possibility of taking the matter to the Federal Court on Friday.
“Obviously it’s a terribly disappointing decision for Katie, for her teammates, and for the whole club really, and we will consider our position,” Gordon said on Thursday.
But after Brennan’s legal team served draft documents on the AFL for a Federal Court challenge to her suspension, she eventually decided that taking the matter to the Federal Court would be detrimental to her side’s preparation for the premiership decider against the Brisbane Lions at Princes Park.
However, one of the key grounds of the appeal on Thursday was to “fight the injustice and inequality to women which afflicts the AFL rules” given a male player wouldn’t have been suspended for executing the same kind of sling tackle that Brennan applied to Melbourne’s Harriet Cordner.
By going to the AHRC, Brennan hopes that in future, other women players are not more likely to be suspended than men for identical conduct with identical disciplinary records.
“I believe my tackle on Harriet Cordner was reasonable and I strongly disagree with the guilty finding,” Brennan said.
“It is even more troubling to know that if I was a man playing in the AFL and was reported for the identical tackle, I would not have been suspended and I would be playing in a grand final tomorrow.
“The fight for gender equality is as every bit as important to me as the grand final and the decisions I have made reflect both of those priorities.”
Bulldogs chief executive Ameet Bains said the club was “immensely of proud” Brennan and would “stand by her”.
“Our team will be doing its best to re-pay her faith in them tomorrow,” Bains said.
“We share Katie’s view that her suspension was wrong and we will fully support her challenging the AFL rules on the basis of gender discrimination.”
More to come