Rumour Adelaide Crows camp

[TheKITC]

It's interesting. Crows cracked it over this camp, yet most clubs have similar camps for team building

Team Building. Yes. Been done in various forms for decades informally and formally. Venturing into psychological areas of grief without a qualified psychologist present, paying complete disregard and lack of knowledge and respect to indigenous cultural beliefs and your own medical staff not giving any approval to such activities? Absolutely not. Wouldn’t be permitted in any work place, why a football club?

A ‘cult-like’ pre-season camp debacle left senior Adelaide Crows players distressed

‘Cult-like’ pre-season camp debacle left senior Crows distressed

www.foxsports.com.au

This is probably one of the more illuminating articles I have read, only came across it today (it's from 2018). Tom Morris though, so maybe not...

Adelaide’s playing list split up into two groups. One stayed on the Gold Coast for the week, while the more senior half-a-dozen or so players ventured to the bush on a “high gradient training” adventure that was designed to break them mentally for part of the camp.

Entitled the ‘Mankind Project’ and run by Collective Minds, players were asked to complete emotionally upsetting questionnaires, as well as a variety of tasks that sources say also had at least one assistant coach questioning the merits of the mental elements of the camp.

...when senior players hopped in a bus and were blindfolded, sources have suggested that no medical professional accompanied them. One player in particular didn’t feel well but no doctors were there to assist.

In addition, players were asked not to talk about the specifics of the emotional hardships they were forced to endure.

And the kicker...

It’s believed the Adelaide Crows Board was not informed about the Gold Coast training camp and was only notified when at least one frustrated senior player mentioned it.

^^^ WTF, talk about negligence.

 

[Mr Miyagi]

Depending on the contract/disclosure they signed, players might have an avenue to sue Collective Minds and the Adelaide Football Club. Mark my words, the AfL has helped Adelaide keep specific camp details under the rug, the AFL does not want this being made public. I hope a player does spill the beans and goes on to sue.

 

[Gene Simmons]

This is so negligent on so many levels... right up there with the Bombers supplement saga.

 

[PT Bar None]

Wouldn't surprise me if Collective Minds loaded everyone up with NDAs.


Keeping the cat in the bag is integral when your main operation is based upon snake oil, allegedly.

 

[Cobbler]

Someone needs to retire and write a book.
I read earlier in this thread they were hung upside down and had to hold onto each other’s knobs? I mean seriously that’s beyond funny but if that’s the sort of ‘mental training’ that occurred? OMG I need to know more.

 

[HTPunter]

Team Building. Yes. Been done in various forms for decades informally and formally. Venturing into psychological areas of grief without a qualified psychologist present, paying complete disregard and lack of knowledge and respect to indigenous cultural beliefs and your own medical staff not giving any approval to such activities? Absolutely not. Wouldn’t be permitted in any work place, why a football club?

Sums it up perfectly. It wasn't a team building camp, it was full of pseudoscience alpha male bullshit.

 

[Buzzasto DaSilva]

Nothing wrong with telling the truth.........surely if things have turned pear-shaped because of this camp, you'd want to know about it?

It is your club after all, no fans, no club.

To be fair, from what I can gather, I think most Adelaide fans are desperate for the truth to come out regarding the camp. They are sick of the cover ups and victim blaming, and the more that the likes of Ellis-Yolmen, Jebkins, Betts and heaven forbid- Sam McClure- talk about the camp, the better.

 

[moses]

To be fair, from what I can gather, I think most Adelaide fans are desperate for the truth to come out regarding the camp. They are sick of the cover ups and victim blaming, and the more that the likes of Ellis-Yolmen, Jebkins, Betts and heaven forbid- Sam McClure- talk about the camp, the better.

Absolutely want to know the truth. The way the club has tried to deflect this (before that disastrous press conference last season) has made it all the worse.

 

[burge13]

Unless they were literally tortured I fail to fathom how grown men can still be upset years on. It's an excuse to get out of a poorly run club. Nothing that happened on that camp could be that bad that no details would emerge this whole time. The AFLPA would be all over it if anything 'serious' happened...

 

[Linda_Lovelace]

 

[Buzzasto DaSilva]

Unless they were literally tortured I fail to fathom how grown men can still be upset years on. It's an excuse to get out of a poorly run club. Nothing that happened on that camp could be that bad that no details would emerge this whole time. The AFLPA would be all over it if anything 'serious' happened...

Clearly you've had a very comfortable life.

 

[burge13]

Clearly you've had a very comfortable life.

Probably have but you don't think if things were really bad the players association would have intervened, things would have been leaked etc? Christ, the way it's discussed criminal charges should be laid. Sounds like a Friday the 13th movie but real life. How did they survive?

Or, and this will sound crazy but, maybe it was blown out of proportion?

 

[PenfoldsFan]

I think this camp is being used as a scapegoat.
I've no doubt it played a big part in what has transpired, but I think the issue goes much deeper.

Lets not forget, this group only a few years ago went through something which no other group has had to experience, waking up to find out that a very respected member of their club had been murdered, there is no doubt in my mind that this started the ball rolling. The AFL giving them a week off was a good gesture, but was it really enough, unfortunately the nature of the beast requires that this was about all they could have and I seriously doubt it was enough to help the grieving process they needed.
The heartbreak of falling over at the last hurdle in 2017 tipped them over the edge, especially given they would have had what happened as a driving factor to reach the top.

I don't think the club or Collective minds meant to do the damage that has been done, I just don't think the playing group were ready to pick up the pieces and move on so quick, hell, if you ask me, even making the GF was a monumental achievement considering where they were a couple of years prior, and that should have been enough, however, that's not how sport works, your always looking to go that one step further and so the club rather than let them mourn and heal from the period of turmoil, pushed on.
The camp is merely the straw that broke the camels back for mine, it was only a matter of time in reality.

 

[TheKITC]

Unless they were literally tortured I fail to fathom how grown men can still be upset years on. It's an excuse to get out of a poorly run club. Nothing that happened on that camp could be that bad that no details would emerge this whole time. The AFLPA would be all over it if anything 'serious' happened...

Absurd to say because you weren't there firstly. Secondly, all evidence points to the exact opposite of what you are saying, because it clearly is still an issue. CEY said it in black and white a day ago.

You don't work for the Crows do you? Because it seems to me that's the exact attitude that has landed them in this mess, that quite frankly stinks to high hell if you ask me...

 

[jenny61_99]

Someone needs to retire and write a book.
I read earlier in this thread they were hung upside down and had to hold onto each other’s knobs? I mean seriously that’s beyond funny but if that’s the sort of ‘mental training’ that occurred? OMG I need to know more.

JFC, the shit some people come up with on here.

 

[burge13]

Absurd to say because you weren't there firstly. Secondly, all evidence points to the exact opposite of what you are saying, because it clearly is still an issue. CEY said it in black and white a day ago.

You don't work for the Crows do you? Because it seems to me that's the exact attitude that has landed them in this mess, that quite frankly stinks to high hell if you ask me...

Netflix better buy the rights to 'the camp' when details emerge. I bet it's the horror story of the decade!

 

[Buzzasto DaSilva]

But he didn't say what happened did he. He just said 'the camp'. The camp is a scapegoat . As I said, if it was as bad as some people would have you believe the police would be involved.

Bullying and trying to break people down mentally doesn't necessitate police involvment.

 

[Sauras]

So we know they were blindfolded at some point and had the Richmond song play over and over. Big whoopee.

I reckon they've had some truths session or something where they've had to throw others under the bus costing friendships. I don't know, but that could fracture relationships and really get people offside.

 

[burge13]

So we know they were blindfolded at some point and had the Richmond song play over and over. Big whoopee.

I reckon they've had some truths session or something where they've had to throw others under the bus costing friendships. I don't know, but that could fracture relationships and really get people offside.

This is much more likely. A fractured list due to what was said rather than anything legitimately traumatizing, unsafe or really bad.

Still no 60 minutes story about how gruesome this camp was. Can't be far off?

 

[TP86]

I can't believe there is still so much mystery surrounding it. Jacobs and indigenous players (Hampton quitting mid-season, CEY, Betts) leaving correlates with what I've heard about the mental disintegration tactics employed against some players on this camp. My rumour mill lead me to believe there were personal attacks that cut to the core of players' identity and family.

Footy insists you put a bad game behind you and move on to the next one within a week - or leave one season behind you and move on to the next one within six months. My amateur opinion on why collective minds has stuck is because it hit to the core in a way that can't be dismissed and moved on from like a bad performance on the field. But footy fans are conditioned to think that players will move on from anything because that's what the week-to-week grind of a season demand that you do. Thus why the spin and skepticism still has so much traction and people refuse to believe that the effects of what happened on this camp were medium and possibly long-term traumatic (time will tell).

This is re-heating a previous post I have made on this but until every level of the club is flushed, this will linger. Especially the spin doctors and those that decided it was the best way to deal with it rather than falling on the sword and catharsis. List turnover of affected players will not heal the lack of trust in the institution.

I guess one of the big problems has been two of the most accurate media sources on this have been Morris and K Cornes so if anything it helps the spin gain traction.

 

[Bastyy]

the one rumour i heard (from my dad) was of Betts being told that his wife's baby was stillborn and they wouldn't let him off the bus or contact his wife.

Has this been heard by anyone else?

 

[Chuckie357]

Hopefully the big guy starts doing handstands after each joe the goose goal he scores.

*Josh the goose - my petition to get it changed is coming soon

 

[Chuckie357]

So we know they were blindfolded at some point and had the Richmond song play over and over. Big whoopee.

I reckon they've had some truths session or something where they've had to throw others under the bus costing friendships. I don't know, but that could fracture relationships and really get people offside.

Geez imagine having to tell Tex that Ralph Wiggum is smarter than him

 

[SickQwon]

the one rumour i heard (from my dad) was of Betts being told that his wife's baby was stillborn and they wouldn't let him off the bus or contact his wife.

Has this been heard by anyone else?

That's actually too ****ed up to believe.

 

[1970crow]

the one rumour i heard (from my dad) was of Betts being told that his wife's baby was stillborn and they wouldn't let him off the bus or contact his wife.

Has this been heard by anyone else?

Well, I guess if the goal was to break players down mentally, that’d pretty much do it.