Ken Campagnolo

Former Football Coach

Ken Campagnolo has served Australia in the Armed Forces. He has been a highly commended forestry worker and fire fighter for most of his civilian life. And he’s a footy veteran of 678 games, with 16 years of devoted volunteer coaching and sports rehabilitation for Bonnie Doon Football Club and the Benella District Football League. This 42-year-old bisexual man is the epitome of a down to earth, friendly bloke.

After years of harassment from his workmates at the Department Of Sustainability and Environment (DSE), including several incidents of verbal abuse, being taunted with a Barbie doll and being told he would never have a full time position at the DSE because he was ‘a poof’, Ken Campagnolo took the matter to the Equal Opportunity Commission.

“I’ve got balls of brass. I’m a big bloke and I don’t have to take anything lying down. But I took [the abuse] for ten years. It just got to the point where enough was really enough.”

The story of his case was big news in his rural town Mansfield, and suddenly he was publicly outed as bisexual. His name, reputation and personal life were trashed around his hometown. He was denied work. He was spat at on the street. He was called a paedophile. He was dismissed, on the grounds of his sexuality, as coach of the Benella District and Bonnie Doon Football Clubs, where he had dedicated sixteen years of loyal service without incident, and had also passed four security and background checks.

Again Ken didn’t take his unfair dismissal lying down, taking no less than ten accountable organisations to VCAT, including the Victorian country Football league (VCFL) and the Australian Football League (AFL) for not protecting him from the vilification and unfair dismissal. His cases opened a giant can of worms about the poor treatment of queer people in Australian sport, and exposed the true lack of understanding and protection.

When asked about his opinion regarding Campagnolo’s case, Jeff Kennett - Former Victorian Premier, and current Chairman of the Hawthorn Football Club and depression awareness organisation Beyond Blue - came out with comments aligning homosexuality with paedophilia, which enraged the gay community. Kennett condoned Ken’s dismissal, calling it responsible duty of care.

With Campagnolo’s sexuality out in the open and discrimination everywhere, he was unable to find employment in his hometown or surrounding districts. Unable to pay his mortgage, he lost his family home and while he waited for his cases to come up, he spent three months homeless, living out of his car.

“It’s amazing what happens when you’re in this situation. Everyone feels for you, but no one is prepared to stand along side you,” he explains. “I’ve been painted out to be ‘difficult’ and ‘a trouble maker’. No one wants to be associated with that. But that is the furthest thing from the truth. I’m just fighting for what I believe in.”

Legal assistance that came from a community law firm allowed him to successfully fight his cases in VCAT, and despite all of his personal misfortune, he’s never stopped fighting.

From February 2009, when over 75,000 footballers take to the field to play the game next year they will be subject to tough new anti-sexual discrimination rules outlawing serious slurs - a direct result of Campagnolo’s case. Defiance of these new rules could see players banned. Similar to what Nicky Winmar did for racial vilification, Campagnolo has done for harassment based on sexuality. The new rules, which Campagnolo cheerfully refers to as ‘Ken’s Rules’, were initiated by the Victorian Country Football League, and will be rolled out nationally across all sports.

“When all this first started, yes, it was about me. But this isn’t about just me anymore… It’s for the betterment of all sport,” says Campagnolo, “Sport is the last place where this kind of brutal discrimination is acceptable and is allowed to continue. It’s got to stop. I’m happy that I’m involved in putting an end to it.”

Campagnolo receives letters of support from politicians, sporting leaders, community groups and organisations from all over the country, all of whom are now sitting up and taking notice of the homophobia that has been allowed to continue for too long. Campagnolo cites the messages of support that he receives from the young people he used to coach as the thing that gives him the most hope in his darker moments.

“I’ve lost my house, my possessions, and my job. What more can be taken from me? I’ve got nothing to lose. And while things might not be getting better for me I can see that what I’m doing is making a difference, and that means more to me than anything. It gives me strength. I realise what I’m fighting for,” says Ken. “I’m the kind of bloke who sees things through to the end, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

By Travis de Jonk