Eddie McGuire under fire for scolding AFL coin-tosser

Eddie McGuire has been slammed for his insensitive insult of an AFL fan as blame was pinned on another ugly incident from his past.

Eddie McGuire stood himself down from scheduled TV commitments after his “ignorant” comment towards Sydney Swans ambassador Cynthia Banham as the club doubled down on its criticism of the high-profile media personality and others weighed in.

McGuire did not feature in a broadcast on Saturday where he was scheduled to host the Fox Footy pre-match coverage of Essendon’s game against St Kilda in Melbourne. McGuire released a statement to announce he made the call to walk away from his regular Saturday role after copping criticism for mocking the way Banham — who had both legs amputated after a horror plane crash in 2007 — tossed the coin before the game.

“Out of respect for Cynthia Banham and the Sydney Swans, I have requested not to call today’s game between Essendon and St Kilda,” McGuire said in the statement.

“I am deeply sorry and regretful for the comments I made last night about the coin tossing system. I should never have spoken without properly viewing the footage.

“I unreservedly apologise to Cynthia, her family and the Sydney Football Club for the pain and hurt that my comments have caused.”

It was the second public statement McGuire had released since the scandal erupted on Friday night and the third time he had apologised publicly for his “ignorant” joke.

The Herald Sun reports McGuire’s decision to suspend himself was made with the support of Fox Sports.

“We are disappointed with the comments made and we deeply apologise to Cynthia, her family and the Sydney Football Club,” head of Fox Sports Peter Campbell said.

SWANS DEMAND ACTION

The Swans released a statement slamming McGuire’s insensitive comments after he criticised Banham’s pre-match coin tossing technique and Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham hit out again on Saturday, calling on the AFL to take action.

“I think the AFL has an obligation to show leadership in these matters. This all comes down to their vilification policies and how to deal with these things,” Pridham said, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

“In the past we’ve seen where the AFL has been far too slow to respond to things and not have a great feeling for what the community is thinking.

“These are the situations where they need to show leadership, whatever form that may be.

“To do nothing, say nothing is highly inadequate.

“We’re extremely disappointed, these things can’t continue to happen. There need to be some consequences when people stuff up.”

Pridham also said McGuire’s remarks were “very hard to reconcile”.

REAL REASON FOR MCGUIRE CONTROVERSY

Murphy believes McGuire has escaped with too much, too often.

Melbourne-based Irish sports journalist Catherine Murphy echoed the sentiment the AFL needs to do more, saying the real issue with McGuire’s latest comments is the lack of action taken against him in previous instances where he’s sparked outrage, meaning his behaviour hasn’t had to change.

Murphy pointed to the absence of any sanctions against McGuire for his Adam Goodes controversy, where the broadcaster said the Swans legend could be used to promote the King Kong musical just days after he was called an “ape” by a spectator during a match against Collingwood in 2013, as part of the reason for this latest episode.

“This comes back to a previous issue that just was not dealt with. That was the Adam Goodes comments, that were incredibly disrespectful,” Murphy said on ABC’s Offsiders.

“Not only was that not dealt with at the time, not only did Eddie McGuire not face sanction, less than a year later he was appointed as Chef de Mission for the AFL for the International Rules series (in Ireland).

“So no sanction, no repercussions whatsoever.

“In this case Eddie is sanctioning himself. Perhaps he knows he’s untouchable, knows he hasn’t been sanctioned in the past.

“This is a hangover from what should have been dealt back then. It wasn’t dealt with and when people with a microphone can talk like that about Adam Goodes in a disrespectful way, then we expect people on social media to behave properly? We expect people in the stands to behave properly when we’re not seeing that leadership from the top and we’re not seeing sanctions?

“Why would they?”

Absolutely - well said 👏🏼@CathMurphySport
Only statement from @AFL simply echoed Eddie McGuire’s apology and remorse. A critical tweet from AFL’s head of content @MattPinkney (calling Eddie “an ignorant disgrace”) was deleted. Hard to tell what is going on in AFL https://t.co/1NPO1DpKMI

— MaryGearin (@MaryGearin) March 31, 2019

Former Sydney star Brandon Jack — brother of Swans premiership winner Kieren — slammed McGuire in an opinion piece, saying in his apology he tried to shift the blame onto people who were offended by his comments rather than take ownership of his mistake.

He also blasted McGuire for saying his comments had “nothing” to do with Banham, when in fact they had everything to do with her.

“Immediately he shifts the onus, because we are the ones who have misinterpreted what he said. It’s not Eddie’s fault, it’s our fault because we took it the wrong way,” Jack wrote in a column for 10 Daily.

“That’s a nice line to throw around, Eddie, it really is. But you said what you said in direct relation to Cynthia Banham, so don’t say it has ‘nothing’ to do with her. You just didn’t think about how your words might affect someone else, and now you’re having to deal with the consequences.”

Journalist Mike Jeffreys voiced his disbelief over McGuire’s comments on Sky News on Saturday night.

“I don’t understand what he was thinking,” Jeffreys said. “Did he lose his mind? It wasn’t even a terrible coin toss.

“Yeah it went over a bit, it wasn’t on anybody’s foot. Did he watch it? Did he know what he was commenting on? The comments were just so loose and so careless.

“Then we come out with the apology and the, ‘Oh I’m sorry if you were offended’ apology. I just don’t get it.

“What to do with him, I don’t know. How can he be rehabilitated on this one? It just seems like a very careless thing to say on so many levels.”

Sydney Swans Ambassador Cynthia Banham has received a personal apology from Eddie McGuire.

MCGUIRE ‘DEVASTATED’ BY BLUNDER

McGuire earlier said he is “devastated” after learning the identity of the woman he poked fun at during his Friday night call of Sydney’s loss to Adelaide.

Before the match between the Swans and Adelaide at the SCG, McGuire scolded Banham, who appeared to struggle while flipping the coin before the opening bounce.

“I think we should issue a $5000 fine for anybody who is tossing the coin and can’t do it properly,” McGuire said from the commentary box.

“Every week we have someone dropping it on their foot. Come on, toss it up properly for goodness sake. Practice in the week, you know you’re going to do it. It can’t be that hard can it guys, seriously.”

The problem was the woman in question was Banham, a scholar and former journalist who had both legs amputated in a 2007 plane crash that killed 21 others.

She was covering a tour by the Australian foreign minister when the plane crashed.

Cynthia Banham, journalist and scholar, who survived the Yogyakarta plane crash, who is an amputee, tossed the coin at the Swans game tonight. Eddie McGuire mocked her coin tossing skills.

— Erin Riley (@erinrileyau) March 29, 2019

Banham is the Swans’ number one ticket holder since late last year and holds a Doctor of Philosophy and a Masters in International Affairs.

The comments were labelled “ignorant” by the Swans.

McGuire apologised unreservedly on Friday night. He later released a statement to say he is “devastated and apologetic”.

“The Swans say it was an ignorant comment. I am guilty of ignorance,” McGuire said in a statement.

“I didn’t see the lead up to the toss and had no knowledge of who it was.

“I saw out of the corner of my eye the coin fly out and was having a laugh at coin tossing in general.

“Once I realised who and what it was I was totally devastated and apologetic.

“I have apologised publicly and privately.

“I am deeply sorry that I have taken away from what should have been a wonderful occasion for Cynthia, her family and friends.”

It comes as the AFL also released a statement to confirm the league had been made aware of McGuire’s apology to Banham and the Swans.

“Eddie McGuire last night reached out to Cynthia Banham, the Sydney Swans and the AFL to apologise unreservedly for his inappropriate on-air comments,” a spokesperson said, according to The Herald Sun.

“He acknowledges his comments caused distress and do not reflect those of our game, which prides itself of on being welcoming to all.”

Plane crash survivor Cynthia Banham tossed the coin for the Swans and Crows match.

At halftime, McGuire apologised for the comments and for any offence that may have been caused.

“Before the match I made some comments about how we do the coin toss,” he said.

“It had nothing to do with the Cynthia Banham, who was the coin tosser tonight at the SCG who has a disability. I just want to apologise if this was communicated in the wrong way.

“I did not mean to offend anyone, especially Cynthia and I apologise unreservedly to her and her family and friends and Swans supporters and anybody watching tonight who took it that way. My apologies for that comment.”

Eddie McGuire's apology on Fox Footy tonight regarding comments he made of the coin toss. pic.twitter.com/7975b22Es9

— Rhett Bartlett (@rhettrospective) March 29, 2019

In a statement from the Sydney Swans, the club said it was “incredibly disappointed by inappropriate comments made tonight by Eddie McGuire”.

“The comments show not only a lack of empathy, but also ignorance,” it read.

“Cynthia Banham is a passionate Sydney Swans member, our number one ticket holder, and a courageous woman who is an inspiration to all of us at the club.

“She was one of the key figures behind our Diversity Action Plan.”

Regardless of who is invited to toss the coin, they are doing so by invitation and as recognition of their love of the sport or a club, the statement continued.

“It is a tradition that should be celebrated,” it said.

“We are extremely proud that Cynthia was there to toss the coin for our first home game at the SCG this season.”

EDDIE MCGUIRE’S CAREER OF BRAIN SNAPS

Eddie McGuire’s TV career spans more than 30 years.

Eddie McGuire has a track record of putting his foot in it — particularly when it comes to Sydney.

The popular media figure in 2011 described the home of the AFL’s newest club, the GWS Giants, in western Sydney as “the land of the falafel”. It sparked a long-running slanging match with the Giants’ inaugural coach Kevin Sheedy.

He has also shared a long-running public feud with Swans chairman Andrew Pridham and his predecessor Richard Colless.

In 2013, just days after Swans champion Adam Goodes was called an “ape” by a young Collingwood supporter, McGuire was forced to apologise for suggesting Goodes could be used to promote the King Kong Musical featuring in Melbourne.

More recently McGuire has also offered an apology to veteran journalist Caroline Wilson during the annual Big Freeze at the MCG event where he appeared to suggest he would donate money to see Wilson go down the ice slide and stay under the water.