Jul 16th, 2017

Jul 16th, 2017

Reports this morning have raised the lid on a toxic sexist culture within AFL headquarters with revelations some men in the office had come up with a “Top 10” list of female colleagues they wanted to bed.



The Herald Sun reports a female employee was told that she was in fact on the list of a list put together by a number of male staff at AFL house.



The woman confirmed that she was told that she was “number five on the list.”



Despite these allegations, AFL CEO Gillon Mclachlan yesterday said the two sacked executives, Simon Lethlean and David Simkiss, would probably be welcomed back into the game in the near future.



AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan.

“I know the industry is forgiving. They are high-quality people and unbelievable executives,” he said on SEN.



“I feel confident they’ll get another chance.”



Later he told 3AW: “They’re both high-performing executives who have worked through the ranks because they have delivered.”



Football operations manager, Lethlean, quit following an affair with young Auskick staffer Maddi Blomberg, the girlfriend of rugby union star Kurtley Beale.



Richard Simkiss (L) and Simon Lethlean (R)

Simkiss, the code’s commercial manager, resigned over his relationship with young AFL legal counsel Ali Gronow.



In addition to the “Top 10” list, a current male employee at league headquarters has been labelled the “King of Tinder” by female colleagues.



The AFL didn’t respond to the claims about the “Top 10” list or the” King of Tinder” when McLachlan spoke to a number of Melbourne radio stations yesterday but he did address allegations of a third executive having an inappropriate relationship.



“There’s a lot of different things swirling, there’s nothing that I know that worries me,” he said.



McLachlan also said he still respects both men.



“I don’t look at them in any different way.



“They are friends of mine who’ve been outstanding executives who made a mistake and they are working on their marriages. If they account for this in the right way, their histories and their behaviours going forward will repair everything.”



McLachlan said he would look at whether a new code of conduct for treatment of women should be considered as a result of the incidents.