Holding the brawl: Some of footy’s biggest bust-ups, sledges
From trading insults to simmering tensions at club reunions, there have been plenty of bust-ups in the footy commentary and media world.
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As far as the footy landscape goes, most people are on friendly terms … or are they?
Slanging matches, war of words and trading of insults are not confined to Parliament House.
The footy commentary and media world has had plenty of bust-ups – here’s a look back at a few of the best of them.
May 2023: Mathieson and Carlton
A bust-up in the Carlton rooms following the team’s loss to Sydney back in May was followed by the resignation of board director Craig Mathieson.
As the Herald Sun reported exclusively at the time, the club was also considering whether to continue its financial relationship with Mathieson’s uncle, the billionaire businessman and long-time benefactor Bruce Mathieson, who leases four gaming venues to the club.
As Mark Robinson and Sam Landsberger reported, Craig Mathieson was openly vocal in the rooms and angry after yet another loss, which prompted president Luke Sayers to step in.
The confrontation was seen by fellow directors, as well as family and friends of players.
2023: Ricky Nixon and Warwick Capper
The two former high-flyers have been at loggerheads over their 60th birthday parties.
Nixon claims Capper pulled the pin on their joint celebration and says no one will turn up to his bash on July 15.
He got his own back when he scheduled his party for July 8 at the same Port Melbourne venue.
Capper says Mick Gatto will be at his “bigger than Texas” shindig to also ensure Nixon doesn’t try to get in.
They’ve both traded insults but it’s fair to say it may be friendship over for these milestone men.
March 2023: Stephen Silvagni and Carlton
Tensions between the Carlton great and his former club came to light earlier this year when it was revealed Silvagni rebuffed invitations to attend a celebration of son Jack’s 100th game.
As Jon Ralph reported, Silvagni attracted criticism from AFL figures, including Hawks premiership captain Luke Hodge, for turning down the chance to mark the milestone.
Jack reportedly said in his post-match speech after his 100th game presentation that Silvagni had opted to stay in the car.
Silvagni was sacked as Carlton’s list boss in 2019 when the club said the conflict of him handling sons Jack and Ben, who has since been delisted, was too great. Full story.
August 2022: Tim Watson and Tony Jones
The pair reignited their long-running feud after a clip of Watson forgetting a coach’s name live on air resurfaced on the Sunday Footy Show.
When Watson’s SEN co-host Garry Lyon told him Jones had played the clip on the show Watson replied “What, toupee Tony did? Did he play that, did he?”
Unimpressed, Jones fired back “the teeth might have had a bit of work but not the hair … if that’s a toupee then I want my money back,’’ he said.
The rift began in 2021 when Jones was shown a photo of the Essendon great before remarking “who is it?”
A cheeky Watson then returned serve to suggest Jones, known as “Chompers”, was also sporting hair plugs.
August 2022: Wayne Carey and Anthony Stevens
Tensions between former North Melbourne premiership teammates Wayne Carey and Anthony Stevens were reignited with reports the pair had to be “separated” at a club reunion.
Almost 20 years after Carey’s affair with Stevens’ then wife sparked a major scandal at the Kangaroos, the duo reportedly clashed at a reunion of the 1996 premiership side at a pub in Yaraville.
The Herald Sun reported that the pair had a verbal stoush at the event, but sources denied there was any potential for violence.
It was understood the stoush centred around Stevens’ mental health, with Carey talking about battling his own mental demons following the cheating scandal and that after words were traded, the pair moved on and had a beer together.
Giving his version of events, Carey confirmed the pair had had a “firm conversation”, not an “altercation”.
“I wanted to have a conversation about Stevo. I was worried about him. I said ‘I’m worried about you’ and he obviously took a bit of umbrage to me saying I was worried about him.”
He said the pair later reconciled, had a “couple of beers together” and left the venue together.
June 2022: Eddie McGuire and Neil Mitchell
The opinionated pair became embroiled in a bitter war of words on air, after McGuire accused the 3AW broadcaster of mocking Collingwood star Jordan De Goey and his mental health.
The pair’s often tense relationship flared again after McGuire slammed Mitchell’s take on the De Goey situation in which he labelled him a “Bali boofhead”.
Mitchell hit back at McGuire during a heated exchange with the pair trading barbs and talking over each other — Mitchell called McGuire “a nasty bastard” and McGuire said he had “sooked up”.
May 2022: Kane Cornes and Wayne Carey
Kane Cornes ruffled some old feathers with the ‘Duck’ Wayne Carey over his opinion that Patrick Dangerfield looked “heavy”.
It got under Carey’s skin, with the footy great tweeting: “K. Cornes … Danger needs to lose weight … cannot be serious?? Danger is a bull not a sheepdog #whatajoke”.
Cornes v Carey has some prior form, with the pair exchanging barbs in 2018.
Carey hit back at Cornes for suggesting someone had got in his ear to praise then Adelaide skipper Taylor Walker.
“Being a shock jock in this industry, as a former player, has a limited time,” Carey said.
May 2022: Heritier Lumumba and Collingwood
The 2010 premiership player was locked in a long-running feud with the Pies and former coach Nathan Buckley over allegations of racism and misconduct during his time at the club.
In 2020, Lumumba sued his former club and the AFL claiming he was racially abused during his career with the Magpies and in 2021 an independent report commissioned in the wake of the claims found there was “systemic racism within the Collingwood Football Club”.
Several complaints against Collingwood coaches and officials were detailed in an extensive dossier released by Lumumba’s team in 2022.
Among the allegations, Lumumba claimed he was nicknamed “Chimp” and that Buckley knew it was being used, despite his denials at a 2017 press conference. Buckley declined to respond to specified allegations against him but said that his version of events was “very different” to Lumumba’s. Lumumba said the releasing of the dossier, and previously secret recordings of meetings with Buckley, had “closed the chapter” on his lengthy feud with the club.
June 2021: Caroline Wilson and St Kilda players
Wilson refused to apologise after copping criticism for questioning St Kilda pair Seb Ross and Tim Membrey for missing a crucial game the team lost for family reasons. She said Saints players and fans had reason to be disappointed with Ross and (to a lesser extent) Membrey for missing the game.
September 2020: Luke Darcy and Daniel Andrews
Luke Darcy earned widespread praise for his robust questioning of Premier Daniel Andrews on his Triple M Hot Breakfast radio show.
The exchange during a harsh lockdown had the Premier on the backfoot, with Darcy suggesting to the Premier that research suggested extreme lockdowns had the opposite effect. He later admitted the tense situation had led to a frosty period with his co-host Eddie McGuire.
April 2020: Eddie McGuire and Tony Jones
On Channel 9 News, a fired-up McGuire and Jones were discussing Covid and the crisis potentially facing clubs if people didn’t buy memberships.
He 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?”
2011: Gerard Whateley and Ross Lyon
Relations between the pair were reportedly frosty for the best part of a decade after Whateley launched a scathing attack on Lyon after he left St Kilda for Fremantle in 2011.
As Scott Gullan reported, Whateley said Lyon had “damaged his brand” by pulling off a backdoor deal to get the job over in the west.
“It’s absolutely deceitful, duplicitous and distasteful,” Whateley said.
As Gullan writes, Lyon has a long memory and subsequently avoided having anything to do with Whateley in the intervening years, including refusing to go on Whateley’s various shows on Fox Footy and SEN.
But it’s understood relations began thawing a couple of years ago and in March 2023, the cold war appeared to be over when Lyon and Whateley were finally reunited on the AFL 360 desk.
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