After Collingwood’s banner blooper, Danny McGinlay looks at the best fails of all time
AFTER Collingwood’s “tonihgt” spelling gaffe on Friday night, footy banner expert DANNY McGINLAY looks at the greatest banner fails of all time. SEE THE WORST BANNER FAILS
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MY phone has almost exploded from text messages on three occasions.
When the Bulldogs won the Grand Final, 57 messages; when my son was born, 36 messages and when I was mentioned on Footy Classified, 20 messages.
We have a new entrant in the list, coming in with a whopping 42 messages, when Collingwood misspelled ‘tonight’ on their banner.
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The entire football world was united in delight as good old Collingwood proved their own stereotype to be correct.
If Carlton had somehow breached their salary cap limits mid-match it would have been the perfect night.
I don’t know exactly how the banner writing process happens at the Magpies but when I was at the Dogs there were lots of people involved.
I’d send my suggestions to club official Linda Murray (the hardest working woman in the AFL) who would run it past the people we referred to as the “Fun Police”.
These were the higher-ups at the club who would check that the message was appropriate and what not. I was never sure exactly who the fun police were, but I know that on at least one occasion it went all the way to Bevo.
That’s a lot of people who should be able to catch a spelling mistake.
The amazing thing about the Pies’ banner is the word TONIHGT looks like a forgivable typo, but how do you get a typo on a giant banner when the letters are about a foot high?
Can’t blame that on autocorrect.
The best thing we can say about the typo is it distracted from the message which was quite baffling - “We own tonight forever” - does that mean anything?
I’d like to think that the spelling mistake was on purpose and Collingwood are playing off their stereotypes but no.
It’s a good excuse for us to revisit some of the great banner errors of history. Thanks to twitter user @tsm042 for finding these.
Typically ... Collingwood’s spelling error was stolen. From St Kilda.
Who could forget North Melbourne misspelling their own captain’s name last year.
It’s the wrong code, but when the Wests Tigers celebrated captain Aaron Woods’ 100th game they made a banner. They spelled it right, but used the wrong type of plastic and even Wood’s 109kgs, 194cm body couldn’t break through.
But the No.1 all-time banner error is of course when Essendon misspelled their own team’s name.
Overall I am seeing some great things in banners this season. St Kilda and Carlton are keeping it fun and I want to give a shout out to GWS who have really improved.
However, West Coast has done away with the banner at home games which is a disgrace and they should be kicked out of the league.
Keep it up banner makers, you are the heart and souls of clubs but maybe keep a dictionary on hand.
Danny McGinlay is a comedian and the leading expert on AFL banners.
See his show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Sydney Comedy Festival.
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