THE AFL has stripped Barry Cable of his place in the Australian Football Hall of Fame, announcing on Tuesday that it would be immediately removing his designation as one of the game's official Legends.
The decision comes after it was found that Cable repeatedly sexually abused a Perth girl at the height of his playing career, following a ruling made by Judge Mark Herron in the District Court of Perth earlier this month.
AFL Commission chair Richard Goyder, who is also chair of the Hall of Fame selection committee, said the Commission came to the decision on Tuesday at the earliest opportunity.
He said the AFL Executive wrote to Cable last week asking for any response he was prepared to provide. After considering his written response at a meeting on Tuesday, a decision was subsequently made by the Commission to immediately remove his Hall of Fame honours.
"The finding of Judge Herron was incredibly serious and distressing and the thoughts of the AFL Commission are entirely with the victim, who bravely told her story, and the other women who courageously came forward during the course of the trial to tell their stories. We acknowledge the courage it has taken to reach an outcome through the courts in WA," Mr Goyder said.
"Once the court ruling was handed down it was incumbent on the Commission and the game to immediately examine the facts of this matter and the horrific nature of these events required that Barry Cable can no longer be considered for any honours that the Hall of Fame or football can bestow.
"At our last Commission meeting we moved to alter the charter for the Australian Football Hall of Fame, to include a new section that allows for the AFL Commission to remove any person for conduct which brings the AFL, the Hall of Fame inductee, any AFL Club or Australian football into disrepute."
Cable, 79, was sued in the District Court of Western Australia by a woman who alleged Cable abused her over a five-year period beginning in 1968 when she was aged 12 or 13.
After overseeing a civil trial earlier this year, Judge Mark Herron found the abuse had taken place and awarded the woman $818,700 in damages.
But his victim may be unlikely to receive substantive financial compensation after Cable was declared bankrupt prior to the trial.
Cable has persistently denied abusing the woman and has not been charged with any criminal offences.
One of football's most decorated players, Cable was in 2012 elevated to Legend status in the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
He had an illustrious playing career for Perth and East Perth in the WAFL and North Melbourne in the VFL, going on to coach in both leagues.
In 2005, he was named by the AFL as a player and coach in the Indigenous Team of the Century.
The new section that "allows for the AFL Commission to remove any person for conduct which brings the AFL, the Hall of Fame inductee, any AFL Club or Australian football into disrepute" is as follows:
5.12 If a Hall of Fame inductee:
- a) engages in conduct which the Commission considers does, or which is likely to, bring AFL, the Hall of Fame inductee, any AFL Club or Australian football into disrepute;
- b) is charged with an indictable offence;
- c) is found guilty of an indictable offence; or
- d) is otherwise engaged in conduct which the Commission considers is prejudicial to the interests of AFL,
The Commission may, if resolved by a three-fourths majority of the Commission, do any of the following:
- e) suspend the inductee from the Hall of Fame for a nominated period of time; or
- f) remove the inductee from the Hall of Fame.
"As a result, the Commission unanimously resolved today to remove Barry Cable from the Australian Football Hall of Fame, effective immediately," Mr Goyder said.
