The question we should really be asking amidst another ‘club in crisis’

An incident. A disaster. A club in crisis. These are often the phrases that dominate public discourse whenever any scandal involving professional athletes comes to light.

When news first broke of a police investigation linked to four Sydney Swans players in Melbourne, the narrative inversion began. Swans CEO Matthew Pavlich called an emergency presser to express “extreme shock” at his players’ involvement, with one glaring omission: acknowledgement of the alleged victim.

There is currently an ongoing police investigation relating to an allegation of sexual assault at a Melbourne hotel on Sunday night.

Four Swans players are assisting police with inquiries. Nine.com.au is not suggesting the four players are being investigated over the offence – only that they have since spoken to authorities.

Today, Victorian Premier Ben Carroll finally made the statement women across the country have been waiting over 24 hours to hear: “My thoughts are with the woman involved.”

It had taken a day of conferences, commentary and statements from officials for the focus to be shifted away from the footy, and towards the individual who should have been at the forefront all along.

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Here are the initial comments from Swans CEO Matthew Pavlich: “[We’re] disappointed that this has taken place and that the players have found themselves in this situation,” he said.

“Found themselves in this situation” – it is a phrase that alludes to a common narrative across professional sport.

In the midst of similar scandals, we consistently see the impact on an athlete’s career positioned as the tragedy at hand. The question is “what about the match? What about the season?“.

But what about the woman?

One high-profile AFL commentator’s assessment reflected this footy-first mentality. While he did not want to “understate or downplay the seriousness of” the case – stressing that he could “only really comment on football matters” – he then went down a predictable route.

“What we can discuss is the ramifications from a football point of view, and this is an unmitigated disaster for the Sydney Swans and for the game,” he said.

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“[Swans coach] Dean Cox has worked his arse off all year, the players have worked their backsides off ... It’s a disaster, an absolute disaster.”

Former AFLW star Kate McCarthy was open about her issue with this line of commentary in the aftermath of such events.

“When our immediate conversation becomes, ‘What does this mean for finals?’, I think we need to ask ourselves what message that sends to women,” McCarthy told the Herald Sun.

“Football cannot always be the most important thing in the room.”

As fans fret over their team’s finals series odds, a woman navigates the aftermath of a potentially life-altering experience in real time.

Sherele Moody, founder of victim advocacy organisation Australian Femicide Watch, says when high-profile scandals break, we often find the alleged survivor systemically erased from their own story.

“We need to pull back on talking about the impact on the game, and the impact on the players,” she told nine.com.au

Moody said the overall response was indicative of a larger cultural issue across Australia.

“People who support the clubs, they always default to supporting the players – and they do it quite blindly, often to the detriment of [alleged] victims of sexual and other violence.”

“At the end of the day, there is a woman, there is an [alleged] victim at the core of this, and she’s basically on an island surrounded by sharks.”

The collective response from club leadership, commentators and media often sends a clear message about where loyalties lie – and as women have come to expect, it is never with the alleged victim.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).