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AFL team president Luke Sayers resigned from his role yesterday (22 January) following the posting of a “lewd image” to his X account.
Luke Sayers, president of the Carlton AFL team, resigned yesterday following revelations that his account on the social media platform X had been compromised.
A “lewd image” was posted to Sayers’ X account on 8 January, which also tagged a senior female executive of one of the team’s sponsors, Bupa. Sayers immediately denied being responsible for the post, before disabling his account.
The AFL’s Integrity Unit began an immediate investigation; however, despite finding that Sayers was not responsible for the post, the Carlton boss nonetheless resigned on 22 January.
“The past two weeks have been very tough for everyone who has been impacted by an unauthorised social media post,” Sayers said in a statement.
“I did not post the image, either deliberately or accidentally. I fully cooperated with an independent inquiry by the AFL, which concluded that access to my X account was compromised.”
Sayers added that despite speculation that the post was directed at the Bupa executive, “that narrative is wrong”.
“I am so sorry for the hurt that has caused,” Sayers said.
“I deeply regret that many other people, including my family, friends and colleagues, and my football club, have been caught up in this matter.”
Sayers said he would deal with this matter “away from the glare of the public and media spotlight”.
“This decision draws a line in the sand,” he said.
The AFL also reiterated in its own statement that Sayers was not responsible for the incident.
“The Integrity Unit’s inquiries, which included multiple interviews and review of other evidence, have now concluded and the AFL has found, based on the available evidence, that access to Mr Sayers’ X account was compromised, resulting in the posting of the image (i.e. by a person not being Mr Sayers) and tagging of another person,” the AFL said.
“Accordingly, the AFL has determined that Mr Sayers did not breach AFL Rules in connection with the posting of the image.”
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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