Port Adelaide Football Club has this week formally ended its long footballing relationship with club legend Warren Tredrea. This decision followed a recent review that led the board to censure him for comments he recently made on his podcast. Tredrea is widely considered the greatest player in the club’s history. He was an influential figure in its success, captaining the team through its only ever premiership in 2004. He left the board in a swirl of controversy. This chaos was the result of his public comments and his failure to issue an apology.
Warren had an accomplished on-field playing career with Port Adelaide, contesting 255 games from 1997-2010. Orders of the British Empire. He is hailed as one of the club’s greatest players. His line-breaking dash has helped him receive selection as a four-time All Australian. Fans and members alike—I know this personally—have a deep respect for him. After hanging up his boots, Tredrea started a new media career by signing with Channel Nine in 2013. In 2021, he was fired for not adhering to the network’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The club subsequently voted to boot Tredrea off its board. This decision followed an internal review intended to respond to his inflammatory podcast remarks. Port Adelaide later confirmed the board’s failure to reach Tredrea. They had asked him to commit to concrete steps like publishing an apology to the martial arts community and those offended by statements made on his podcast with Mr. AJ Roberts. Instead, the board noted that Tredrea had numerous opportunities to reconsider his position. Though these were great possibilities, he held stubbornly to his ground.
“His legacy as a player is secure and will forever be celebrated by this club and our members. That legacy remains untarnished and separate from this governance decision.” – Port Adelaide
In an effort to alleviate the damage, Tredrea released a public statement. Without a doubt, he hopes to use his new platform to shed light on different perspectives — not advance his own agenda. He was quick to point out that his podcast isn’t a tool for pushing his agenda. Rather, it serves as a platform for everyone else to share their unfiltered and grossly inappropriate thoughts.
“The purpose of my podcast has been not to shine a light on my own personal views and opinions, but rather to provide a platform for others to present their views and opinions in an unfiltered forum.” – Warren Tredrea
Despite this blowback, Tredrea has continued to assert that he is not anti-Semitic and that the claims against him are defamatory. He has devoted his life to speaking out against war and genocide. He is dedicated in his pursuit of creating respect and connectedness between contrasting perspectives.
“I want to make it abundantly clear I unequivocally condemn war and genocide, and seek only to share other perspectives of what has been a very one-way reported narrative in the mainstream media.” – Warren Tredrea
The narrative changed dramatically after Tredrea was unsuccessful in his court challenge. He was hoping to recover $6 million in lost wages after being fired from Channel Nine. On top of that, he went on to publicly refuse to apologise for his comments, irreparably damaging his relationship with the Port Adelaide board.
