There was a fresh twist in the ongoing public feud between Heritier Lumumba and his former Collingwood coach, Nathan Buckley, on Tuesday, as the 2010 premiership player posted mobile phone audio recordings of conversations between the pair to Twitter.
Lumumba took to the social media platform after Buckley told SEN on Monday that Lumumba "doesn't really want to move forward," and "there are other versions of the truth that are a long way away from the way that he perceives it."
Buckley was responding to a Herald Sun report where Lumumba claimed coaching staff used pornographic content during team meetings and former CEO Gary Pert was responsible for making inappropriate comments towards the partners of Collingwood players.
READ MORE: Buckley responds to fresh Lumumba misconduct claims
In the first post of a 10-tweet thread, Lumumba said: "I've given Nathan Buckley many years to grow and hopefully tell the truth. Unfortunately, he has used his platform and considerable profile to discredit me, including making insinuations about my mental health and being deliberately misleading about the past."
1/ I’ve given Nathan Buckley many years to grow and hopefully tell the truth. Unfortunately, he has used his platform and considerable profile to discredit me, including making insinuations about my mental health and being deliberately misleading about the past.
— Héritier Lumumba (@iamlumumba) May 10, 2022
Lumumba also claimed there were "serious cultural problems at Collingwood" and that Buckley was "instrumental in punishing me and pushing me out of the Club when I spoke up about these issues", before posting two audio clips with video captions.
The videos, which were clearly edited, appear to show Buckley asking Lumumba if he believes speaking out against then-President Eddie McGuire's comments about Adam Goodes was in "the best interests of the football club," before calling Lumumba "a bit of a rogue".
Lumumba's 10th and final tweet of the thread calls on the AFL and Collingwood's sponsors to remove their heads from the sand or also bear responsibility.
10/ The AFL and CFC's sponsors cannot simply keep their heads in the sand. When clubs are incapable of dealing with serious systemic and cultural issues, organisations that fund them and profit from them must also bear responsibility.
— Héritier Lumumba (@iamlumumba) May 10, 2022
Buckley himself replied to Lumumba's thread on Twitter, calling on Lumumba to "put out a full and uncut version ... so as to provide context" to the conversations.
Heritier, I offer you the opportunity to put a full and uncut version of our conversations on public record so as to provide context to our conversations and the support that was provided to you above and beyond that which could be reasonably expected in the circumstances.
— Nathan Buckley (@ncb_cfc) May 10, 2022
Buckley replied to Lumumba for a second time, questioning the former defender's claim that he "always presented facts."
And facts???
You asked to be removed from the leadership group and….
You asked to be traded from the club.
The club simply facilitated your requests.
— Nathan Buckley (@ncb_cfc) May 10, 2022
Buckley and Lumumba were at Collingwood together between 2005 and 2014.
