A former Married At First Sight star has called out a major AFL club for allegedly turning a blind eye to players mocking domestic violence and says the league must hold men accountable.
Perth-based Lauren Dunn, 32, who found fame on the 2024 season of Married at First Sight Australia, posted about domestic violence on Instagram early this year.
Shortly after the post, she was alerted to the fact that several players were making light of the situation.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Dunn said as an Australian woman with a platform she feels obligated to raise her voice on behalf of the victim-survivors who can’t.
‘I was made aware that members of a particular AFL club, were sitting around discussing my social media posts,’ she said.
‘They were making light of the situation, labelling me as ‘ridiculous’, and said they would all back each other up.’
The media personality also took to her Instagram Stories after learning that the group of former AFL players had mocked her publicly.
‘As an Australian woman, it’s my duty to use my platform to speak out against the systemic abuse of women within Australian male sporting clubs, and Australia as a whole,’ she said.
‘Sporting clubs have an important role to play in tackling this issue, because ‘actively dishonouring the men who have abused women will start to make real cultural change”.’
‘Not only is this absolutely appalling, but also very bold of some of these washed-up has-beens, considering the information I have been sitting on, that has come directly from women who have come to me with stories of their own experiences of DV with particular members of this WA club.’
In the post, Dunn explained she chose not to reveal the names of the AFL players in order to protect the privacy and the welfare of the women.
‘If I didn’t value the safety and privacy of the women involved, I would expose every single one of these sh*t for brains halfwits.’
She tagged @AFL in the post as she called on the league to address the ‘rampant problem’ among members of the organisation. She did not receive a reply.
‘Since coming forward, I have been inundated with stories from women who have had similar experiences with current and past players,’ Dunn told Daily Mail.
She said several of the women she’s been in contact with went to the league for help, only to be ‘shooed away’.
‘The AFL have a strong history of covering up for their players and turning away women who have been brave enough to approach them with their experiences,’ Dunn alleged.
The AFL Integrity Unit has not responded to Daily Mail Australia’s requests for comment on the allegations.
Her statement comes after all AFL players, coaches and umpires observed a minute of silence in tribute to victims of gender-based violence against women on August 30.
The action was taken before nine games played across the country after widespread community, political, and media condemnation of Australia’s national ‘femicide’ crisis.
A surge in murders of women prompted rallies across many Australian cities at the end of April. The death toll of Australian women to that point had reached 29.
‘Behind this gesture was the AFL’s acute antenna for savvy marketing packaged around a socially-progressive social cause,’ Monash University lecturers Lucas Santos and Tom Heenan penned in their missive about the ‘virtue signalling’ action.
‘Football administrators and fans are a forgiving bunch, especially to past champions,’ they wrote. ‘But in making its stand, the AFL clumsily revealed it hadn’t addressed its skeletons in the closet.’
That included North Melbourne captain and premiership player Wayne Carey, who was in line to be named a NSW Hall of Fame Legend on the same weekend, despite a long history of DV allegations and assault convictions.
The AFL has a long and chequered history itself when it comes to sexism and the prevention of violence against women.
Then-Carlton president John Elliott boasted of paying ‘hush money’ to women who had brought rape allegations against players in 2009, for example.
So far as Dunn, and the women who have shared their stories with her are concerned, the sentiment of silent tribute is not enough.
Lauren Dunn is an ambassador for The Polished Man, an Australian organisation dedicated to ending violence against women and children.