Australian Football League CEO Gillon McLachlan has "withdrawn from this year's Carbine Club grand final week lunch after the club failed to meet an AFL-imposed deadline to introduce women into its membership ranks," according to Caroline Wilson of THE AGE. Breaking a tradition that has lasted for 52 years, McLachlan told the club that "he cannot speak at the post Brownlow Medal luncheon." The AFL is also "considering withdrawing the Carbine Club lunch from its Grand Final week calendar of events." McLachlan, who is a Male Champion of Change, delivered the message to Carbine Club Chair Graham Halbish last week "shortly before travelling to the Rio Olympics." Having "threatened to pull out of last year's function, McLachlan attended on the condition the all-male luncheon and sporting club would introduce women members before the 2017 grand final." However "some long-standing club members resisted the move on the basis the AFL was forcing their hand and and imposing a deadline upon them." On the move to introduce women, Halbish said, "There was no agreement. There was an indication of intent. And there's still intent." A proposal is "understood to be under way to introduce a handful of women members in December" from a list including Richmond President Peggy O'Neal and Olympians Nicole Stevenson and Alisa Camplin (THE AGE, 8/18).
