AFL 2020: Sam Newman reveals boxing head injury after Footy Show, Shane Crawford incident

Sam Newman has revealed the truth behind the Footy Show stunt that sent him to the emergency room after a nine-year cover-up.

Sam Newman and Shane Crawford in the fight nobody wanted to see.

Former Footy Show star Sam Newman has revealed the nine-year cover-up behind his famous dash to the emergency room following a stunt gone bad.

The 74-year-old fell out of a boxing ring on live TV in 2011 and hit his head on a steel set of steps as he crashed to the ground.

After lying motionless on the ground as awkward silence filled the live broadcast, Newman was eventually helped to his feet and stumbled backstage while concerned colleagues James Brayshaw, Garry Lyon and Shane Crawford attempted to laugh off the incident in front of the cameras.

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It was widely reported at the time Newman suffered a broken rib in the fall — a fact that Newman has rubbished in the latest episode of his controversial You Cannot Be Serious Podcast.

In an episode that featured Crawford as a guest host, the pair retold the story behind their famous face-off in the ring, which was staged as part of a promotion for an upcoming fight between Aussie Danny Green and American Antonio Tarver.

Crawford was challenged to fight Tarver — or at least survive an entire round in the ring — on live TV and ended up with a bloody lip to show for it.

In the final seconds before the bell sounded, Newman, dressed in boxing gear and wearing gloves, jumped into the ring and pretended to ambush Crawford with some light punches to his back.

Crawford quickly turned and chased Newman out of the ring, landing a punch to Newman’s head as the former Geelong great tried to climb through the ropes.

As Newman struggled to fit between the ropes, Green attempted to protect him as Crawford delivered a series of light punches to his back and bum.

Crawford ended up giving Newman a shove through the ropes before being locked in a bear hug by Green — and the shove resulted in Newman losing his balance and collapsing through the ropes, hitting his head on a set of steps on his way down to the studio floor.

The incident was met with laughter from Lyon and Brayshaw, but Newman has now revealed there was nothing funny about it.

“I hit my head on the steel steps and I spent until 5am (in hospital) with an MRI and a cranial inspection by David Marsh, the Richmond (football club) doctor who sent the image to Germany,” Newman told the podcast.

“They thought I was mentally impaired.”

Crawford revealed the entire Footy Show crew were forced to keep the secret about the true nature of Newman’s injury, claiming the cover-up was designed to protect the Show and Channel 9 from any occupational health and safety consequences.

“We weren’t allowed to tell anyone,” Crawford said.

“So close, so close but yet so far — but I didn’t mean to kill you like that.”

Newman confirmed: “We could have been cancelled. He almost killed me, almost.”

The Footy Show is now accused of giving reporters false information at the time when it was reported the scans of Newman’s brain taken at the Epworth Hospital in Melbourne showed no damage to his head.

Sam Newman had no brain damage?

At the time of Newman’s incident, host Brayshaw told the audience: “Foss has gone down. Oh no, all sorts of mayhem. He’s fallen through the ring.”

Newman parted ways with Nine after making explosive comments about George Floyd, the American man who died in police custody and ignited the Black Lives Matter movement across the world.

Earlier this year, Newman described Floyd as a “piece of s***” and saw Nine get push-back from some sponsors.

He was last month forced to apologise and pay compensation to AFL legend Nicky Winmar after a Podcast he was involved with publicly questioned the St Kilda star’s iconic gesture of calling out racism.

Podcast hosts Newman, Mike Sheahan and Don Scott all apologised for the moment they rewrote history surrounding the day Winmar lifted his shirt to show his pride in being an Indigenous Australian after being racially abused by Collingwood fans in 1993.

It was reported Newman, Sheahan and Scott agreed to make a significant donation to an Indigenous charity as part of the settlement that was struck with Winmar and photographer Wayne Ludbey.