Footy’s worst and most controversial banners
When AFL banners are done well, like during the Western Bulldogs’ 2016 premiership season, they add to the pre-game spectacle. But when they aren’t … Here are some of footy’s worst and most controversial banner moments.
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Banners are an important part of the AFL pre-game ritual.
Considering every team makes one, every week, they are usually pretty spot on and just some harmless fun.
But as we saw in last week’s Carlton-Collingwood clash, cheer squad members don’t always get it right.
Playing for the Richard Pratt Cup, the Blues’ banner message was all about prostate cancer awareness.
Unfortunately for the club, footy lovers were quick to point out Carlton hadn’t hit the spellcheck.
But Carlton isn’t the first team, and won’t be the last, to have a banner get people talking for the wrong reasons.
Their fierce rivals, the Magpies, are serial offenders for a banner stuff-up.
Coincidentally, it was a match against the Blues last year when Collingwood got the internet talking with a couple of misplaced letters.
But the cheer squad showed they could have a laugh at themselves the next week by following it up with this beauty.
The Magpies’ banner dramas of 2018 followed them all the way to the grand final.
Blustery conditions took hold of Collingwood’s banner before players ran out onto the MCG.
A member of the banner squad was in tears looking helplessly at the destroyed crepe paper, but was consoled by Magpies coach Nathan Buckley, who put an arm around her.
Collingwood is also responsible for one of the more shameful banners in the game’s history.
Essendon hero Michael Long was racially abused by Collingwood ruckman Damian Monkhorst during the 1995 Anzac Day thriller.
Long made an official complaint which led to mediation and the pair shaking hands.
It was an awkward moment and Long remained upset by how it all played out.
Collingwood clearly remained bitter about it, too.
When the teams clashed in round 19 later that year, the Magpies’ decided to hit back in a way that barely caused a ripple in the mid-1990s, but would ignite national outrage today.
Putting together a yarn on AFL banners and I had no idea this actually happened. A direct response to Michael Long after he was racially abused in 1995. Wow. pic.twitter.com/OeW5r39N3n
— Oliver Caffrey (@ollycaffrey) May 15, 2019
The banner read “STICKS AND STONES MAY BREAK MY BONES BUT NAMES WILL NEVER HURT ME” accompanied by a dummy in Bombers colours.
The 1990s proved to be a controversial time for banner messages.
In Fitzroy’s last days as a stand-alone club, they went for broke, with the supporters feeling like they had nothing left to lose.
Directly after the merger with Brisbane was announced, the cheer squad’s anger and fury at the situation launched in three explosive lines ahead of their game with Collingwood at Victoria Park.
The Lions have had some memorable banner moments over the years, with this provocative one catching the eye for two reasons back in 1981.
Playing the Cats, they were obviously trying to be funny and risque, but the grammar police also had a field day with it.
Even after heading north to Queensland, the Lions are still prone to the odd banner slip-up.
This one from 2018 was far more child-friendly than the previous two, as Brisbane ran out to play Sydney with a notably absent ‘n’.
While that was bad, at least they got their own name right.
Essendon players were once left to take on rivals Carlton with a banner that read “Bombres”.
But what’s worse; stuffing up the team’s name or the surname of one of your star players before a milestone game?
Ask North Melbourne supporters.
Jack Ziebell led the Kangaroos out before his 150th game in 2017, only to look up and find an ‘e’ had jumped in front of the ‘i’
Three years earlier, the Roos’ cheer squad tried to combine sentiment and comedy with bizarre results.
Wanting to pay tribute to coaching legend Tom Hafey after his death, but also ribbing the struggling Lions, didn’t end well.
While obviously not intentionally mean-spirited, it could certainly be interpreted that way having “RIP” and “no one really cares” on the same banner.
While we started with Carlton, we might as well finish with them.
After the popularity the Western Bulldogs enjoyed with comedian Danny McGinlay writing their banners, the Blues decided they wanted a piece of that.
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McGinlay’s witty rhymes and slogans always hit the spot, including during their 2016 premiership run, but the Blues’ comedic attempts fell flat the following year.
Not perturbed by the 43-point hiding from the Tigers — including 33 possessions and four goals from Dustin Martin, the man they targeted in their banner banter — the Blues decided to roll out more of the same the following week.
And the results were the same — a joke that fell flat and a loss.
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