The Sydney Swans have again apologised for the club’s “error of judgment” that resulted in the Jewish community not being mentioned in the AFL’s opening round pre-match tribute to victims of the Bondi terror attack.
In a statement on Monday, the club attempted to absolve the AFL of any blame after the league was referred to the royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion by Liberal senator James Paterson.
Before the Swans’ season-opening game against Carlton at the SCG, Sydney’s chief executive, Matthew Pavlich, led a tribute to victims of the Bondi attack and first responders, some of whom joined the teams on the field.
The club has now apologised multiple times, after journalist and former player Gerard Healy revealed Pavlich’s speech had been edited to remove references to the Jewish community.
“There was no directive or instruction from the AFL to remove or change the reference to the Jewish Community in the script,” the club said in a statement.
“That script change was made within our club in a genuine effort to use inclusive language by referring to the ‘whole community’.”
The statement noted that “the focus of the script was to recognise those people present on field on the night”.
“This included members of the Jewish community, community heroes and first responders. We acknowledge that was an error of judgment and again we apologise.”
Speaking to Sky News on Monday before Sydney released its latest statement accepting responsibility for the omission, Paterson said “we need to get to the bottom” of why the script was changed.
“It would be ridiculous and weird to have any sort of acknowledgment that didn’t recognise the fact that it was an attack on Jewish Australians, and that would be a problem in and of itself, but it’s an even greater problem if someone saw the word Jewish in that statement and thought it was a good idea to take it out.”
On the weekend the AFL boss, Andrew Dillon, did not clarify whether the league was involved in editing the tribute script.
“I don’t know the ins and outs of scripts,” Dillon said on SEN. “Matthew [Pavlich] did a great job of hosting that ceremony. It was the appropriate forum, and it paid tribute to the victims of a horrific attack on the Jewish community.”
In his letter to Virginia Bell, who is leading the royal commission, Paterson said “the reported involvement of AFL staff in this incident should be closely examined as part of the commission’s inquiries into the nature and prevalence of antisemitism in Australia.”
The AFL has been contacted for comment.
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