The booing of Scott Pendlebury after the Anzac Day clash was shameful, writes Mark Robinson
It was a cracking contest, but Mark Robinson writes the ugly fallout from Thursday’s Anzac Day epic will now be part of horrible folklore. HAVE YOUR SAY ON BOOING
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Don’t give us your PC rubbish.
The booing of Scott Pendlebury, who won his third Anzac Day medal, was shameful.
On a day which honours such words as leadership, commitment and spirit, those moments when the embittered Essendon crowd drowned out Pendlebury’s acceptance speech, will now be part of horrible folklore.
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Remember when the Bombers booed Pendlebury?
The Magpies certainly will never forget.
Boo all you like, people, but has Australian rules really stooped to this level of distaste and unsportsmanlike behaviour?
“Shame on anyone that booed a champion,’’ Nathan Buckley said.
It was necessary and prompt from the coach who followed Pendlebury to the microphone.
Privately, all of Collingwood would be filthy at the events.
Buckley said that if Collingwood fans had erupted with boos if an Essendon player had won the medal, he would’ve said the same words.
“I don’t like it,’’ Buckley said.
President Eddie McGuire was gracious in victory.
“Let’s not dwell on the negatives, he is a superstar of our club,’’ McGuire said.
“We have to get past this booing thing.
“But I think the other thing is ... let’s just take it a bit easy on these things.
“Let’s get it out of the game. Boo the umpires if you think you’re getting robbed. That’s OK.
“I think the Bombers were so pent up at the end of the game that they were going to boo anything.
“I don’t think it was personal at Bucks, I don’t think it was personal at Pendles. I don’t think it was personal at the Collingwood Football Club. I think it was just pent up emotion.
“We have to stop it though. Because what happened to Gary (Ablett), what happened to Adam Goodes, we don’t need that stuff.”
McGuire went on to say that the Essendon people were fantastic.
“I have got no gripe against them. Let’s not hang them for it. The day was too good to worry about the last bit,” he told Fox Footy.
“Let’s learn from this. Let’s cheer the champions.’’
The jeering almost certainly stemmed from accusations, from Bombers fans at least, that Pendlebury lowered his head late in the game and won a free kick.
Those same fans were livid about free kicks not paid to the Bombers during an epic final quarter, and were absolutely outraged by the events in the final minute when the Pies were paid a free kick in front of goal, which virtually ended Essendon’s quest for victory.
Surely, that doesn’t allow fans to jeer the skipper.
The groundswell of the booing of Gary Ablett regrettably was passed on to Pendlebury.
They are two giants of the game.
That’s two unsavoury events in a week and unfortunately, as Buckley fears, the more we talk about it, the probability is that it will continue.
Pendlebury was best afield, his cool head and awareness a standout in a frantic Anzac Day clash.
It was trench football in the second half, unrelenting and unyielding football in the final quarter and maniacally desperate in the final minutes.
Pendlebury finished with 38 disposals.
Ruckman Brodie Grundy could easily find himself in the votes with yet another strong effort, and there was another 10 Pies who would be proud of their performances.
The Bombers had Dylan Shiel, Zach Merrett and Dyson Heppell flying their flag in the midfield.
Up forward they had Joe Daniher (four goals), Mark Baguley (three goals after half-time) and Jake Stringer (two goals) finished off their teammates’ work.
Then there was the wonderful Adam Saad in defence.
Saad made errors, as all the players did, but his breathtaking darts and baulks at full speed was something to see.
When the Bombers couldn’t penetrate Collingwood’s midfield in the first half, it was Saad who helped open up the game in the second half.
The Pies’ greatest margin was 33 points and, during this time, the Bombers had little run, had lost formation forward of the ball continually burnt themselves with their use of the ball.
But somehow they salvaged their first half.
When Collingwood kicked its seventh goal at the 21st minute of the second quarter, to lead by 28 points, Anzac Day was zeroing in on being a competitive fizzer.
Mason Cox’s goal came via a long kick from Grundy — who too easily ran off Daniher on the mark — but from that lacklustre effort, Daniher’s response was superb.
He took a mark and kicked a goal from 20m out, and then bombed a 65m drop punt after the siren.
His goals were split by what is becoming the Jake Stringer special. He kicked a goal in the first quarter from near where the 50m lines meets the boundary line, and did the same in the second quarter from the same position on the other side of the ground,
The Magpies, too, had their special moments. Jordan de Goey kicked the penultimate goal of the game fro the pocket, with the margin only three points.
It was calm and fluent from the young champ in a game of high pressure, mistakes and missed opportunities.
In the end, it was Collingwood’s day and Essendon’s shame and neither of them can’t be denied.
Originally published as The booing of Scott Pendlebury after the Anzac Day clash was shameful, writes Mark Robinson
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