HERITIER Lumumba has labelled Collingwood's response to a damning report that uncovered systemic racism at the club as "cowardice" and "delusional".

An independent investigation - commissioned by the club's board last year after consistent and long-standing allegations from Lumumba - found Collingwood guilty of a toxic culture of racism.

>> READ THE FULL 'DO BETTER' REPORT Download the PDF here

Lumumba, who starred in the Magpies' last premiership in 2010, feels vindicated by the findings of the report after first raising the alarm on concerns at Collingwood in 2013.

But the 34-year-old believes Collingwood have learned nothing from the scandal after watching president Eddie McGuire at a club press conference on Monday addressing the findings.

McGuire opened the lengthy press conference with a statement describing the release of the report as a "day of pride" and and claimed the club was not racist.

 "What I saw was a clear case of cowardice," Lumumba told the ABC on Tuesday.

'NOT A RACIST CLUB' McGuire fights back after leaked report

"It was a clear case of a football club that is delusional.

"If that's the way Collingwood wants to address (the release of) an independent report, that it did not want out there.

"I have been asking Collingwood Football Club since late last year when I knew they had the report, I have been asking them for it, but it was not given to me.

"It was actually sad I had to receive that from media sources."

Lumumba says he does not hold McGuire "solely responsible" for the Collingwood's culture but believes the long-serving president needs to take more accountability as leader of the club's board.

"A lot of the responsibility falls on him. The performance he gave (on Monday) was cowardice," Lumumba said.

>> AFL STATEMENT Read Gill's comments here

"They keep pointing to courage and they're the ones who are leading the charge (against racism); no they are absolutely not the ones leading the charge.

"It was simply living up to not taking accountability, not accepting the fact that the football club has caused serious harm, as the report says."

AFL social policy and inclusion manager Tanya Hosch said we all must continue to confront the issue of racism across all areas of the community.

"These are hard conversations we need to have in order to become better as clubs, as a code and as a football community. We will continue to strengthen our commitment to confront, understand and fight all forms of racism and discrimination, on and off the field," Hosch said.

"If any player, at any level of the game has been subject to vilification and not had the positive experience in football that we wish for all players to have, our commitment to you is to do everything in our power to listen to you, understand your experiences, support you, and act against further incidents.

"The AFL will also listen to and learn from the report and will continue to work with clubs and players wherever our game is played to provide a safe and inclusive environment for all."

Lumumba chose not to participate in the club commissioned review but the 'Do Better' report's authors said there needed to be a serious investigation into his claims.

>> READ THE FULL 'DO BETTER' REPORT Download the PDF here

The 223-game AFL player said he was tired of explaining his experiences to Collingwood people and being met with "defensiveness".

"I had endured all these years of being attacked and I've been so open and forthright with my personal testimony that I experienced at Collingwood," he said.

"I thought there was absolutely no way that at a review or any sort of investigation would be conducted in good faith."