Melbourne champion Garry Lyon says it comes as no surprise that a notorious pre-season training camp “ruined” Adelaide after reading Eddie Betts’ confronting memoir of his experience.
An excerpt of Betts’ upcoming autobiography, The Boy from Boomerang Crescent, was released Monday night via Age in which the three-time Australian native described the camp as “strange” and “completely disrespectful”.
Several players, including Betts, and officials left the club in the years following the pre-season leadership camp that foxfooty.com.au revealed details in March this year.
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In the most damning first-hand account of the 2018 camp yet, Betts claimed that private details shared in a counseling session during the camp were misused, while sensitive Aboriginal cultural rituals were abused.
“There was all sorts of weird shit that was disrespectful to many cultures but particularly and extremely disrespectful to my culture,” he wrote.
Betts also wrote that he was told he would return after camp “a better husband and father, a better teammate” — terms used by veteran players Taylor Walker and Rory Sloane in defense of the four-day event.
Speaking of SEN breakfast On Wednesday morning, Lyon said he was stunned by Betts’ report but added that it provided important context for the turmoil that ensued at the Crows.
“If you read these words from Eddie, there is no debate as to how they affected him. He talks about the indigenous players, the cultural differences or sensibilities that have not been respected. This is Eddie… and it’s obvious, isn’t it? You can’t disagree with that,” said Lyon SEN breakfast.
“And then you read this from Taylor Walker: ‘The camp that we attended as a football club I personally found to be one of the most beneficial and rewarding camps that I have attended as an individual. I encourage all my friends, family members to do the same. Our footy club, like most other AFL clubs, tries to gain an advantage over (other teams). Rory Sloane: “I can talk about what I got out of it personally. I came out of this camp 100 percent feeling like a better husband, a better son and a much better teammate than before. For me the experience was incredible.”
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“Well, clearly, everyone’s own experiences were caught up in it, and from an Indigenous perspective, Eddie said a lot about cultural sensibilities not being respected – and that’s very, very real.
“In the end it was untenable. We’re talking about the atmosphere and the setting… pick apart who you agree with and who you disagree with, the fact is it’s split the club down the middle. If you have the Sloanes and Walkers who have their memories, and then you have Eddie and others, I would imagine… no wonder it destroyed that joint.
“You have a part of The Football Club – and I’m not just blaming that on Walker and Sloane, there could be others in the same boat – that say, ‘I took so much out of it, it was good.’ And then on the other side, at the very other end of the scale, you have “no, it tore me apart, it tore my relationship apart.” No wonder, then, that from a football club perspective and trying to stay together and on the same page, it ended up where it was.
Essendon legend Tim Watson said he was shocked by claims of cultural insensitivity during the camp.
“Given what they did at that camp, you would think that the planning that went into that planning – as part of that planning from the football club’s perspective – would have said to these guys, ‘OK, what are you up to? do?’ And you would expect them to outline all the different areas where they were going, how they were going to do it, what their goals were — all those things,” Watson said SEN breakfast.
“So you would think somewhere out there someone would represent the Adelaide Crows and there would be someone as part of the Adelaide Crows group who would understand the cultural sensitivities of some of these Indigenous players if they presented the camp the way that as evidently presented. At that point, you would think someone would say, ‘No, you are entering territory where we should not venture’.”
Lyon said Bett’s belief that his private information, which he shared, was then misused during camp was a “treason.”
“I’m only reading the excerpt, so I haven’t read the whole book. But when you’re told whether you’re black or white or not, “these camp people want to talk to you and they’re saying to privately distance yourself from everyone else, and we want you to have a conversation where.” You’re open and vulnerable.” …And I’m like, ‘Okay. To make myself a better player and leader, I’m going to share and give you these really sensitive things that are important to me. Then if that’s thrown in my face again, it’s not cultural to me,” Lyon said.
“How it affects me and someone else might differ by culture, but that’s a betrayal to me.”
After scoring 310 goals in six seasons with Adelaide, Betts was traded back to Carlton in late 2019 to end his career.
Kane Cornes, the four-time Power Best and Fairest winner, named Betts as one of the two most popular players to ever represent Adelaide, alongside Tony Modra. For Cornes, the saddest part for me was “reading how he was treated by his own football club – which he is an icon of –”.
Cornes said he would be intrigued by how the Crows, as well as South Australian media personalities, would react to the Betts book.
“The question is, all the people who defended the camp and didn’t say anything moved on…what are they doing now?” he asked SEN SA breakfast.
“How will they deal with it? Because we now have a ‘beat by beat’ which is quite staggering that your second or most popular player in club history was really treated like an animal at this camp.”
Cornes added: “There’s a lot of balls in the face from Crows supporters, from the Footy Club and some of the players who were there.”