Eddie McGuire’s hypocrisy is embarrassing
Columnist By Ben Somerford, 17 Nov 2011 Ben Somerford is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- AFL, Collingwood, Eddie Maguire
President of the Collingwood football Club Eddie Maguire and President of St Kilda Football Club Greg Westaway. AAP Image/Joe Castro
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On Triple M radio on Wednesday, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire vowed to make it his life ambition to destroy the AFL’s newest franchise GWS Giants if they made a pitch for Pies star onballer Scott Pendlebury.
It makes you wonder what the boys at AFL House were thinking, considering their investment in the start-up club?
Then again, perhaps it was a PR stunt, aimed to drum up a rivalry between the Giants and Pies?
This was the same guy who went more than a little bit overboard when he compared Shane Warne’s comeback to play for the Melbourne Stars in cricket’s Big Bash league to Sir Donald Bradman coming out of retirement in the 1950s.
Then again the comments seem very Eddie, if you know what I mean.
The Pies president has been very aggressive about the recruitment of players by the AFL’s two newest franchises in the past 12 months.
Back in March, with GWS linked with Magpies star Dale Thomas, McGuire said again on Triple M: “I would have very, very, very strongly advised Gary Ablett to stay where he was because he is in a better team, he’d be a better player.
“I’d say to Dale Thomas give Geoff Raines a call … go and ask Peter Moore whether it was a good idea to go and Kel Templeton and lots of other players. I’d rather be getting a handball from blokes that can really go rather than kicking around with 17-year-olds for the next couple of years.”
In August, following the announcement of GWS’s first signing, Adelaide’s Phil Davis, McGuire said, again on Triple M, the Giants were “cheating on their first signing” by poaching the player mid-season.
McGuire’s latest rant came on Wednesday, with Pendlebury due to come out of contract at the end of the 2012 season, meaning the Giants could make a move.
“If they go after Scott Pendlebury, I will declare war on Greater Western Sydney and I will set up a tent embassy outside their tumbleweed-blown ground up there in Greater Western Sydney,” he said.
“I will steal every one of their good players for the rest of my life. I will go feral. I will make it my life’s ambition to destroy them and run them into the ground. As long as they know … this is not Melbourne where you can just walk in and steal the players. If you do this at Collingwood, good luck.”
To be honest, the comments were gobsmacking and totally irrational.
The Giants would be silly not to make an enquiry for a player of Pendlebury’s calibre who is uncontracted for 2013, after only signing a 12-month extension with the Pies earlier this year.
McGuire’s comments appear to be an attempt at intimidation. And, to be honest, that’s not on, as the Giants have every right to make Pendlebury a pitch.
After all, Collingwood made similar arrangements with players like Nathan Buckley, Shane O’Bree and Anthony Rocca in the past. Okay, McGuire wasn’t there when those deals happened, but it shows it is part of footy.
For McGuire to think Collingwood are above that and to think he can try to intimidate rival clubs, shows the contempt he holds for the competition. It’s a shame for such a shrewd administrator, who’s proving himself to be quite the hypocrite yet again.
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- AFL, Collingwood, Eddie Maguire
November 17th 2011 @ 7:18am
Lucan said | November 17th 2011 @ 7:18am | Report comment
Would be interesting to hear from the AFLPA more than AFL House. Under their CBA, Pendlebury has every right to consider his options at the end of his current contract, but the clown at Collingwood is undermining this.
November 17th 2011 @ 7:53am
Kasey said | November 17th 2011 @ 7:53am | Report comment
Soccer lives on a screw-you basis. AFL survives on goodwill.
Oh the LOLs:)
As a former Crows member I used to rail at the institutional bias in the AFL towards Eddiewood, but watching him lose his lunch over this is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in sport off field. Now that I’ve thrown my lot in with football 100%* it is interesting to watch as an ‘outsider’ how the previously closed world of AFL footy deals with situations the supposedly amateur-hour sockah types have long since come to terms with.
*Always been a football fan but with a healthy dose of AFL footy as well, but increasingly I’ve lost interest in the goings on of the AFL level. Some footy fans carry on that commentators like Craig Foster is one of the things that prevents them from giving football a fair go…funny, I find a similar reaction to almost everything that comes out of Eddies mouth. Unfortunately, living in SA means that the media report incessantly on these matters so it is almost impossible to avoid them.
November 17th 2011 @ 8:35am
Australian Rules said | November 17th 2011 @ 8:35am | Report comment
First, Eddie’s rant was a deliberate beat up on his breakfast radio show with Mick Molloy.
Second, he actually meant every word he said.
Eddie’s one-eyed protectionist attitude for all things Collingwood is something Pies fans love (naturally) and the rest of the League groans at. But …it’s his perogative as President to do everything in his considerable power to give Collingwood an advantage.
Third, Pendelbury chose to sign just a 12mth extension at Collingwood, when clearly the club would have given him 4 years…maybe Eddie’s got a reason to be worried?
Fourth, yes Eddie’s hypocrisy continues to beggar belief.
Just one example: In season 2011, he abused a fan at a game and then reported them to security; had a coach who abused (in shocking fashion) an opposition player on the field about an alleged criminal matter; the Pies cheersquad then mimicked that coach’s abuse at every opportunity; he presides over the worst behaved fans in the comp….but called for people to be better behaved at the footy. Ahhh Eddie
But…he is great for footy.
November 17th 2011 @ 8:35am
TomC said | November 17th 2011 @ 8:35am | Report comment
I didn’t hear the interview. It wouldn’t surprise me if there was a little bit of tongue in cheek about this. McGuire has a strange sense of humour.
By the way, his name is repeatedly misspelled throughout this article.
Anyway, McGuire certainly was there when Collingwood put together a very lucrative package to try and lure Jonathon Brown from the Brisbane Lions in 2005, reportedly including media payments through channel 9.
Make no mistake, the bloke is a one eyed fanatic, and no one is more hypocritical than a footy fan.
November 17th 2011 @ 1:45pm
TomC said | November 17th 2011 @ 1:45pm | Report comment
Appears the spelling has been fixed.
November 17th 2011 @ 5:42pm
amazonfan said | November 17th 2011 @ 5:42pm | Report comment
Yeh, it was tongue in cheek. I heard it on a link in the Herald Sun, and Darcy and Mick Molloy weren’t taking him seriously. Eddie even mentioned having Mick Gatto as an club employee.
BTW, in regards to hypocrisy, people are overlooking one of his biggest. He said that he would sue any club who induced Mick to break his contract. Which is interesting considering that in 1999, when Mick was hired, he still had a year left on his contract at West Coast!
November 17th 2011 @ 10:50am
brendan said | November 17th 2011 @ 10:50am | Report comment
Mcguire’s comments are disgraceful for the president of the club.Geelong lost a player too an expansion club didnt spit the dummy and got on with the business of winning the flag.It may not be in Collingwood’s best interests too keep Pendlebury if his contract is too expensive resulting in young players leaving the club.I am sure all Collingwood/Richmond supporters remember the tit for tat recruiting off each other during the eighties and how much it damaged both clubs.Eddie needs too speak as the Club President more and less as a magpie tragic.
November 17th 2011 @ 12:51pm
Tony said | November 17th 2011 @ 12:51pm | Report comment
November 17th 2011 @ 12:53pm
Tony said | November 17th 2011 @ 12:53pm | Report comment
Greg Norman to Eddie at the Presidents Cup………Don’t you have Scott Pendlebury to look after
November 18th 2011 @ 6:50pm
davelee said | November 18th 2011 @ 6:50pm | Report comment
haha, the shark
November 17th 2011 @ 1:48pm
The Cattery said | November 17th 2011 @ 1:48pm | Report comment
Don’t really see the problem. He’s the President. He’s allowed to speak out in defence of his club, even if it irks us. At the end of the day, Pendlebury will make a decision and we get on with it.
November 17th 2011 @ 3:40pm
Wingback said | November 17th 2011 @ 3:40pm | Report comment
You can add James Clement and Darren Jolly to the list of players that Collingwood have poached.
And let’s not forget the regular overtures they have made to Jonathan Brown over his career. No-one was coming out from Brisbane and declaring war on Eddie McGuire when they were offering Brisbane’s vice captain money to move clubs.
November 17th 2011 @ 8:58pm
joe blackswan said | November 17th 2011 @ 8:58pm | Report comment
can’t help but think there is an underlying attempt to intimidate pendlebury. Still I guess the massive profits Collingwood makes from it’s poker machines will help ease the pain….not for the families affected by problem gambling though.
November 22nd 2011 @ 8:14pm
peter care said | November 22nd 2011 @ 8:14pm | Report comment
80% of all profits from poker machines come from problem gamblers.