Sam Newman, Eddie McGuire clash on radio over coronavirus restrictions

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has given an ice-cold response to Sam Newman, stepping into a passionate debate involving Eddie McGuire.

Sam Newman and Eddie McGuire have different points of view when it comes to golf amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Sam Newman has doubled down on his appeal for golf courses in Victoria to re-open during the coronavirus crisis while good friend Eddie McGuire tried to set the AFL legend straight.

The former Footy Show colleagues spoke on McGuire’s Triple M Melbourne breakfast radio show this morning after Newman’s bizarre protest on Thursday where he marched on Victoria’s Parliament House.

Dressed in golf gear with his clubs in tow, the 74-year-old posted a series of videos outside the building on Spring Street in Melbourne’s CBD where he called on Premier Daniel Andrews to relax the closure of golf courses in the state.

Newman is angry people in other Australian states are still allowed to play golf while adhering to social distancing measures, but Victorians are not.

Explaining his protest on the Hot Breakfast this morning, Newman said: “This was just a respectful request as to why the Premier thought we in Victoria couldn’t play golf while everyone else in Australia and most of the people in America can, that was all.

“You give me a legitimate reason why playing golf is dangerous in these times … I would say golf is the most cathartic thing people could do.

“The risk of getting coronavirus … if you socially distance and if you know how golf’s played, would be minimal.”

Andrews responded to Newman’s gripe on Friday, giving the AFL great’s demands an outright dismissal.

The former Footy Show colleagues had to agree to disagree.

“I didn’t give Sam much thought I must say,” Andrews said during his Friday briefing where he announced there was just one confirmed new case of coronavirus recorded in Victoria on Thursday.

“I’d love to be playing golf. We all would. But I don’t need to play golf, and me playing golf is not worth someone’s life.”

Newman seized on Andrew’s cold shoulder by suggesting the state leader had failed to do his due diligence before putting golf on the chopping block.

“Thank you for asking Premier Re Golf,” Newman posted on his Twitter account.

“He said he ‘Didn’t give it much thought’. My point exactly. How about he gives it SOME thought. Hyperbole in the extreme to say him playing golf is not worth someone’s life. Got to have a better reply than that.”

Newman earlier said it was hypocritical to allow other services to remain open but forbid people from playing golf, and again questioned why it was acceptable in NSW but not Victoria.

“If I get coronavirus I can assure you it won’t be from playing golf, it’ll probably be from going down to any walk of life that’s open at the minute,” Newman said.

“You can rent a car, you can rent a truck, you can go and buy provisions, you can run round the Tan, you can go out on ovals … I saw people kicking footballs out on Olympic Park the other day.

“If I get coronavirus it will be from rubbing shoulders with those people.

“I would say out on a golf course, if you know how golf is played and the strategy of how you actually play a hole of golf, it (the risk) would be so minimal.

“My point is, if you think the virus stops at Albury when you come down the Hume Highway and then starts up again when you get to Wodonga, why can all of Australia play and we can’t?”

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Sam Newman was all dressed up at Parliament House but had nowhere to use his clubs.

McGuire said although he agreed with Newman people should be allowed to play golf, he put forward opposing arguments and called on the former Geelong champion to consider the bigger picture.

McGuire said golf courses often attract an older demographic, and they have “proven to be a honey pot for people who have flaunted the rules”.

The Collingwood president referenced the case of the Sorrento Golf Club, where a couple went after ignoring instructions to self-isolate when they returned from a ski trip to Aspen, resulting in an outbreak of cases on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria.

“People just weren’t buying in on this for a long time,” McGuire said. “You’re right in the circumstances you’ve put up, but three per cent of kids went to school yesterday.

“They’re staying home. We’ve nearly got this right. Sam, if you can leave the bag in the back of a car for another month, I reckon you’ll be playing.

“Why don’t we just stick between the lines for a couple more weeks. It’s better than having to go to war or anything. Why don’t we just stick there and we’ll all get through it.

“Sometimes … there are too many people out there who, if you let them have a free run at things, they’ll completely run off the rails.

“We had it there for a while on St Kilda beach, and they were sitting under the sign that said ‘do not sit together’.”

‘YOU MAKE A MISTAKE, PEOPLE DIE’ 

Newman hit back at McGuire’s reasoning, saying if you only played golf in pairs you’d still easily be able to maintain the necessary social distancing because you’d be going off in different directions to fetch your ball.

He then made a reference to the Ruby Princess cruise ship, which allowed sick passengers to disembark in Sydney and has had about 600 cases of the virus linked to it in NSW.

However, McGuire got serious here because the deaths from the Ruby Princess debacle are no laughing matter.

“Stick on the golf, come on,” McGuire told Newman. “That was a mistake that cost nearly 100 people their lives and that’s the point on this Sam. You make a mistake, people die.

“It’s not just you miss out on your game of cribbage, you’re actually dead.”

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Eddie McGuire explained to his great mate why he needs to consider the bigger picture.

Newman refused to budge, saying the public “need” the chance to play golf and questioning why people are allowed outside to exercise but not hit the fairways.

He also questioned how McGuire could be taking the position he was, given as Collingwood president, he witnessed the AFL host a full round before the season was suspended.

McGuire appealed to Newman’s sense of the “greater good” to try and convince him why golf course closures aren’t the end of the world.

“It’s not an essential service but it is a situation where you could put yourself at risk,” McGuire said, as he also emphasised how getting sick when it’s avoidable affects not only the individual, but also places added pressure on the health system.

“The problem has been early in proceedings people wouldn’t sink into their thick skulls, and a lot of them into their thick, privileged skulls, that this was going to be something that could actually catch up and destroy not only lives, but our economy and our way of life.

“If you hang on for another couple of months and show the leadership in the community to tell people who are holed up in single bedroom apartments, who aren’t going to school … sometimes we all have to dig a bit deeper.”

When Newman kept coming back with retorts, McGuire resorted to a much more blunt message.

“You’re not allowed and it’s not happening. Full stop. Get used to it, cop your whack,” he said.