A MILLEWA football and netball club has jumped at the opportunity to join Kim O’Reilly in stamping out domestic violence from sport.
Meringur was the first sporting organisation in Sunraysia to sign Ms O’Reilly’s no violence tolerance policy on Wednesday which will see perpetrators immediately stood down from teams.
Ms O’Reilly — who was struck multiple times by blows of “significant force” by her then partner in 2019, resulting in a fractured eye socket, bruising to her face, arms and upper chest and cracked teeth — said it was “unbelievable people are listening”.
“Abusers should feel less comfortable doing what they’re doing which is essentially ending women’s lives,” she said.
Mildura, Red Cliffs and Irymple have since come forward saying they want to get behind the policy.
“I have a meeting with Victoria AFL this afternoon and I’ve just been asked to go to parliament in Canberra on June 15 to speak to the Shadow Sport Minister and Senator Jenny McAllister,” Ms O’Reilly said.
“I’m asking these people to help implement the policy and to create a domino effect into rural sporting facilities.
“If people in parliament speak to someone who has experienced it (domestic violence), they’ll understand it better.
“You can speak to as many professionals as you want but unless you talk to someone who has actually been through it I don’t think you’ll really understand the extent of what it does … the intimidation and the fear that it gives you,” she said.
“The other thing I want to talk about is perpetrators who are out on bail or out on parole … women and children are being killed.”
Ms O’Reilly encouraged other clubs to follow through with signing the policy and not to end things there.
“Signing and getting a pat on the back and the glory of that isn’t enough … clubs need to really need to do more … it can’t be a one off,” she said.
Meringur will sport “it’s never okay” on their shirts this year to show their active stance against domestic violence.
“It seems to be that if a player does something wrong, they still stay in the spotlight … the focus is never on what’s happened to the partner,” Meringur vice-president Alf Davis said.
“We want to lead the way against violence … the policy is black and white … as of Wednesday, if you’ve done something wrong (violent) and you’re facing charges you’ll be stood down.
“Clubs need to put their best players on the field, knowing when partners and families turn up to games they will be going home safe.”
Member for Mildura Ali Cupper detailed to State Parliament in February how Jake Frecker beat Ms O’Reilly her until she blacked out and when she asked for help to get up he told her “you still have a pulse, you can get up yourself”.
“Six months later Jake was released on bail and made his triumphant return to the footy field (for Dimboola),” Ms Cupper told parliament.
“One club president resigned over the decision to let Jake play, but the new club president allowed it on the basis that Jake’s father was a club great,” she said.
“Jake’s galling sense of entitlement to bash a woman with impunity doesn’t come out of nowhere — it comes from years of social conditioning by a matrix of enablers.
“Sporting clubs can be powerful enablers — not all footy clubs provide a platform for violent men to be worshipped, but some do.”Anyone in need of assistance should contact White Ribbon on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or Lifeline on 131 114.
