Don Scott unwilling to accept Legend status offer from Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett
Sparks were set to fly when Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett and club champion Don Scott faced off on a podcast this week. But those plans have been shelved after a sudden about-face.
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Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has pulled out of a showdown meeting with club great Don Scott over his Legend elevation.
The pair were scheduled to lock horns on Scott’s You Cannot be Serious podcast with Geelong champion Sam Newman and journalist Mike Sheahan in a bid to solve their long-running dispute.
Tensions escalated last week when Scott refused an invitation to attend the Hawks’ annual general meeting where he was set to become the club’s ninth Legend.
Newman said he had high hopes the pair could finally sort out their differences in tomorrow’s recording.
But after changing his mind a few times, Kennett confirmed he was out.
“Jeff committed three times but pulled out four times,” Newman said. “We’ll see if we can try for a fifth.”
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Scott, a three-time premiership player and captain who saved the Hawks from merger with Melbourne in 1996, told the Herald Sun it would not matter if he was never formally presented with legend status.
“These things don’t faze me,” Scott said.
“All I want is the respect of the guys who I played with and the guys who were around the club in my time.
“All I wanted was to look the other fellows in the eye that I played with, and I treasure that more than anything else.
“So, I don’t give a hoot (about the award). There are other people who deserve it as well and these things, anyway, are very subjective.”
Scott said he was humbled and grateful for the public support of teammate Russell Greene, who challenged Kennett on the issue in front of thousands of Hawthorn fans at the AGM on Tuesday night.
“I am so flattered by what Russell did,” Scott said.
“It takes a very courageous person to stand up in front of an audience like that.
“So for a teammate to do that, I am really grateful. It means more than any bloody award.”
Greene said he was “miffed” and “confused” by the club’s handling of the matter involving one of its greatest players and most significant off-field figures.
Scott originally agreed to receive the award at the life members’ dinner, after speaking with Hawthorn’s Hall of Fame committee members about the issue.
But Scott was left disappointed after Kennett overruled the recommendation, saying the AGM was a more appropriate time to anoint the club’s ninth legend.
Scott said he would not cede to Kennett’s demands.
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“The recommendation was that it (legend elevation) was going to be presented at the life members’ dinner. They asked me if I would accept it,” Scott said.
“I was reticent to be asked in the first place, for reasons, but anyway, I said it was fine.
“But the letter was written by Kennett saying that it was going to be made at the annual general meeting, which wasn’t the recommendation.
“When (Hall of Fame committeeman and triple premiership player) Alan Martello questioned it, he was told (Scott) either accepted it at the annual meeting or he doesn’t get it at all.
“An ultimatum.”
Kennett defended the dispute over the timing and location of the award, saying the AGM was the “most important meeting of the year” and the most appropriate occasion for it.
“It is not as though we haven’t tried to work this through,” Kennett said.
“I hope he (Scott) does see fit to attend and accept this award. They are not given out lightly.
“We will get there (resolution) it might just take a bit more time.”
Originally published as Don Scott unwilling to accept Legend status offer from Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett
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