Former St Kilda player Nicky Winmar could be stripped of his Australian Football Hall of Fame status after he was found guilty of assaulting a woman.
Winmar, 60, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022 after a glittering 251-game AFL career with the Saints and Western Bulldogs.
But the league has confirmed it is now reviewing Winmar’s status.
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The move comes after a statue of Winmar at Perth’s Optus Stadium was torn down under a directive from the West Australian government.
It follows Winmar’s conviction on three charges last Friday, after he was found guilty of attacking a woman at Cohuna in northern Victoria in May 2025.
Bendigo Magistrate Trieu Huynh convicted Winmar of two charges of common law assault and one count of unlawful assault, finding the prosecution had proven those offences beyond reasonable doubt.
The charges related to the allegations Winmar grabbed the woman by the arm, dragged her by the hair and hit her head against a door.
Winmar was acquitted on the fourth charge of intentionally causing injury, with Mr Huynh finding the woman’s “substantial pain” fell short of the sort of injury required for the charge.
After Winmar’s conviction, West Australian Premier Roger Cook said he had directed VenuesWest to remove the statue of Winmar from Optus Stadium.
The statue of Winmar, which depicted his iconic stance against racism of lifting his jumper and pointing to his skin, was taken down on Sunday.
“Violence against women is never acceptable, and it is important we send a strong message to the community,” Mr Cook said.
“Following Nicky Winmar’s conviction, I’m of the firm view that it is no longer appropriate for that statue to be displayed.”
VenuesWest is storing the statue while its future is considered.
Football historian Sean Gorman, who led an AFL review of vilification laws, said the decision to remove the statue so quickly was problematic.
“The decision to take it down, I suppose wasn’t terribly shocking. The speed with which the statue came down was,” Dr Gorman told the ABC.
“There seems to be very little sort of discussion in terms of consulting with key stakeholders … it needed further discussion.
“This (Winmar’s stance) is a big iconic moment in Australian history and to take it down in the way that they did it overnight and without the due diligence or messaging that they needed to give to the community I think is, again, problematic.”
Recruited by St Kilda from South Fremantle, Winmar was the first Indigenous footballer to play 200 games in the AFL.
He played 230 games with the Saints and 21 for the Bulldogs.
Winmar is also co-leading a landmark racism class action against the AFL in the Victorian Supreme Court.
He would not be the first player stripped of his Hall of Fame status.
In 2023, former North Melbourne, Perth and East Perth champion Barry Cable’s ‘Legend’ status was revoked after a civil trial found he had sexually abused a young girl during his playing career. In April this year, Cable was acquitted of historical sexual abuse charges in a criminal trial.
