Eddie McGuire fires back after on-air clash with Tony Jones
Eddie McGuire has revealed how the sight of a forlorn young Bombers fan got him fired up before his on-air stoush with veteran sports reporter Tony Jones last night.
Confidential
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Eddie McGuire says the sight of a young footy fan walking along the street in club colours fired up his stoush with Tony Jones on 9 News last night.
McGuire was on his way to do his cross with Jones when he spotted the kid in full Essendon kit on the street.
“I was driving last night, and you wouldn’t believe it, there’s a kid walking down the street with his mum and dad, having a stroll around the neighbourhood,” McGuire said on Triple M Hot Breakfast today.
“He’s got his Essendon socks on, his black shorts and his Essendon jumper on. He would’ve been 7 years of age.”
McGuire added: “I suppose that’s what fired me up a little bit, to be honest. I was thinking about him, and his club … and he already loves his club. He’s dreaming of playing for them.”
The longtime Collingwood Football Club president had a stoush with sports reporter Jones over club memberships, and questions about refunds for supporters who are doing it tough during the COVID-19 crisis.
On 9 News, a fired-up McGuire told Jones: “Tony, do you want to hear what the answer is or do you want to keep asking questions?”
He later added: “If we don’t have enough people putting their hand in their pocket, there will be no club it’s as simple as that.”
Jones replied: “Unfortunately there’s a lot of empty pockets, Ed.”
McGuire shot back: “And they’ll be looked after, Tony. Do not make this into people taking money out of people’s pockets and don’t wind me up with a smart-arse last line, OK?
On Triple M this morning, McGuire also said he felt “narked” by media treatment of recent footy issues before his run-in with Jones.
“I must admit I really got narked last night,” McGuire said. “I’ve had the media go after players, go after officials … casting aspersions at them, and yet, they do the right thing. The clubs are all there trying to do the right thing, trying to survive.”
“I’m intimately involved in it. “I’m passionate about what football does for the community, and that’s why I jumped a bit last night.
“I didn’t want to see more of this divide and conquer in the journalism world — it’s all about trying to get hero and zero.
“If you’re going to invite me on 9 News, let me put what I was going to say in context. Don’t try and trip me up with a yes-no answer that is a lot more complicated and needs to be explained.
“I said it in the first line, ‘Tony, if people have got issues, go to your club, they’ll look after you’. But some people don’t want to hear it.”
McGuire said football clubs are not like “an ATM that can spit the money out”.
“Tony did make a point … to love your club, you don’t have to put your hand in your pocket. That’s Tony’s position because he’s not a member,” he said.
“It’s not like I can give him his money back because he’s not even a member. I don’t mind that necessarily because if you’re a journalist you can say I don’t want to have a conflict of interest. (But) that’s quite tenuous, that one, I would have thought.”
Jones yesterday brushed off the tense clash, telling the Herald Sun afterwards there were no hard feelings.
“I’m fine, it didn’t worry me,’’ he said.
“We spoke about 10 minutes (after). We obviously have a difference of opinions but at the end of the day it doesn’t spill over. It wasn’t orchestrated.
“I can’t recall the last (spat) I’ve had on air. I did jump on my bike and I must admit I was looking behind my shoulder for a black Lexus.
“What’s that line out of Anchorman … ‘well, that escalated.’”
HOW THE STOUSH UNFOLDED
A fired-up McGuire told Jones: “Tony, do you want to hear what the answer is or do you want to keep asking questions?”
He later added: “If we don’t have enough people putting their hand their pocket, there will be no club it’s as simple as that.”
Jones replied: “Unfortunately there’s a lot of empty pockets, Ed.”
McGuire shot back: “And they’ll be looked after, Tony. Do not make this into people taking money out of people’s pockets and don’t wind me up with a smart-arse last line, OK?
“Don’t try make a headline or make a fool out of me! When people need help they will get it.”
On Footy Classified, McGuire said the media should not “try and pick hero or zero,” adding: “People aren’t ripping off anybody. It’s one in all in. The entire football world is absolutely aching.”
He said Jones’ remark about “empty pockets” was “a nice little bon mott… scripted ahead of time to make us look bad.”
McGuire compared footy membership donations to putting money in the church plate.
“You put your money in, and it goes there because you believe in an institution. It’s not just a transactional situation, it’s about the emotion,” he said.
Again, pleading for footy supporters to stand strong, and keep their memberships, McGuire said: “Please. Please leave it.”
He said the media should not “start picking fights that don’t need to be there, scaring people, and dividing people against each other.”
McGuire added: “You don’t need members fighting against their club. You need everyone in together.”
McGuire hosted Channel 9’s Footy Classified last night, where he said Jones “rightly” asked questions about possible membership refunds for people who are doing it tough.
McGuire, who is also the Collingwood Football Club president, said: “You ring your club, they’ll look after you, they always do, because the football club is owned by the members.
“It’s not owned by private industry, it’s not some oligarch sitting over the top counting the money and diving into their swimming pool like Scrooge McDuck.
“To Tony’s point, yeah, there are people who are going bad at the moment. If there is a run on the clubs, and I’ll be perfectly honest about this, then we don’t have to worry about the $600 million the banks are gonna give us, because it’ll be all over.”
He added: “If I said, ‘ring tomorrow and we’ll give all your money back,’ that’s fine, because we won’t have to worry about having a show next week because there will be no football.”
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Originally published as Eddie McGuire fires back after on-air clash with Tony Jones