Foxfooty.com.au would possibly reveal that Pendlebury was informed through Lumumba that it was appropriate to refer to him with a nickname that he has since published and warned.
It is not known whether Lumumba was able to allow Pendlebury, and potentially other teammates, to use the nickname to integrate and deal with what he now says is a culture inflamed by discrimination.
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The club’s existing investigation into the matter reveals the exact nature of why Lumumba volunteered to call his teammates ‘chimpanzees’ and how it was used as his nickname over an eight-year period.
Lumumba and Pendlebury were not available for comment.
Since Lumumba’s claims were made public, Pendlebury is the only high-level colling user in Collingwood who has not spoken out on the subject.
Foxfooty.com.au does not recommend that Collingwood’s captain have called Lumumba “chimpanzee,” but only gave him permission to do so.
Former coach Mick Malthouse and current coach Nathan Buckley said they had never heard the term, while President Eddie McGuire told Nine’s Footy Classified on June 24 that there were “nuances” in the story that he did not know in the past.
Contacted through foxfooty.com.au, McGuire decided not to comment, however, it is understood that one of those “nuances” considers teammates thinking it’s OKAY to use the nickname because Lumumba had given them the green light.
“We need to know what’s going on,” McGuire said in Footy Classified last June.
“I talked to other people and discovered other things. I had no idea of the nuances.
In a nine-point article on social media prior to this year, Lumumba explained how he had the nickname “chimpanzee” for 8 years from 2005 to 2013. He said there was a culture of racist jokes back then.
“I denounced McGuire’s racism on 29/5/2013 and was ostracized internally for doing so, especially Buckley, who said, “You threw the president under the bus.” They saw what I did and didn’t apologize about it, and as a result, they treated me differently, for the worse,” he wrote.
Lumumba also stated that the nickname and “game group jokes” had stopped after a team assembly on June 27, 2013.
His claims were backed by former teammates Chris Dawes and Brent Macaffer, while Paul Roos recalls Lumumba’s montage where the player told his long-term coach that his so-called “Chimp” at Collingwood.
Macaffer had a task in welfare at the Feet after retiring in 2016. He appointed a lifetime member in February 2019 despite a sudden exit from his welfare post that surprised some at the Holden Center.
Macaffer told Channel 9: “He was only dressed with the nickname. I don’t know how that happened in the first place. I can assure you there was nothing malicious.
Lumumba is very critical of independent research, which is led by Professor Larissa Behrendt.
Behrendt is a Eualeyai/Kamillaroi woman and research director at the Jumbunna Institute for Aboriginal Education and Research at sydney University of Technology.
Earlier this year, he appointed Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his service to Aboriginal education, law and arts.
“It has become transparent that in Heritier’s time, we may simply not perceive his experience; let’s see and listen to what you saw and hear,” Collingwood director Peter Murphy said in July.
“This lack of cultural security that he and others have talked about recently is a cause for concern.
“We seek to perceive these reports of racism and that have no position in the current Collingwood environment.
“We anticipate that Larissa Behrendt’s paintings, in a complete and frank account of these reports, will produce a roadmap for telling the future of Collingwood.”
The Collingwood Culture Research is ongoing, so Lumumba has refused to be a part of it.
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