Activist Dr Dvir Abramovich calls on Geelong and AFL to review Sam Newman’s ‘club legend’ and Australian Football Hall of Fame status
Sam Newman drew condemnation for inviting neo-Nazis on his podcast. An activist believes the AFL and Geelong need to reconsider his Hall of Fame and legend status, and Newman has hit back.
Activist Dr Dvir Abramovich is calling on Geelong and the AFL to review Sam Newman’s club legend and Hall of Fame status following his controversial neo-Nazi podcast guests, declaring the “stakes couldn’t be higher”.
Newman, 79, invited disgraced National Socialist Network leaders Blair Cottrell and Thomas Sewell on his, ‘You Cannot Be Serious Podcast’, last week.
The dual Geelong best and fairest and media identity challenged both of their appalling beliefs but drew comdemnation for giving the white supremacists a public platform.
Newman, who played 300 games for the Cats, is one of 28 Geelong players inducted as a ‘Club legend’ from its 166-year history and the club website states a Legend of the Geelong Football Club will have, “Displayed the Club’s values in an exemplary manner, epitomising “The Geelong Way”, and will be a person who is revered, both on and off the field, whether a player, coach or administrator”.
He was also inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2002 with the committee, “Considering candidates on the basis of record, ability, integrity, sportsmanship and character”.
Abramovich, Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, an Australian civil rights organisation that aims to fight anti-Semitism and combat all forms of racism and hatred, argues that Newman doesn’t meet either criteria and that both Geelong and the AFL are at a crossroads.
“The Geelong Football Club and the Australian Football League face a defining moment. Will they continue to honour Sam Newman, a man who handed neo-Nazi hatemongers Tom Sewell and Blair Cottrell a golden stage to spread their vile antisemitic filth and praise Hitler, or will they act to protect their reputations and values?” Abramovich questioned.
“Geelong’s “Club Legend” title is not just a pat on the back. It represents “extraordinary deeds, impeccable values, and strength of character.” But what part of giving Holocaust deniers and white supremacists a microphone to glorify their poison aligns with those values?
“And what about the Australian Football Hall of Fame? Its criteria celebrate “integrity, sportsmanship, and character.” Well, where was Newman’s character when he gave two notorious bigots the opportunity to mock the Holocaust, dismiss the gas chambers as lies and dehumanise minorities?
“Real Legends don’t embolden extremists and don’t give hate a single inch to breathe — they obliterate it. Legends don’t taint the game’s proud history by sitting across from neo-Nazis and thanking them for dreaming of an Aryan Australia — they rise above the darkness of bigotry and shatter the chains of prejudice.
“The Geelong Football Club and the AFL are symbols of unity, respect, and Australian values. The stakes couldn’t be higher. Will they stand on the right side of history, or will they remain silent in allowing Newman to tarnish their legacies?
“The ball is in their court, and we are watching.”
In a statement in response, Newman hit back at Abramovich and invited him to speak face-to-face.
“Unfortunately we are living in times where intelligent people are being silenced so that stupid people won’t feel offended. To dignify that diatribe with any other response indicates that person has clearly not listened to the context of the interview,” Newman said.
“If Mr Abramovich would like to come out from behind his little word processor, I invite him to come and have a chat with me.”
Geelong and the AFL both declined to comment on Newman’s guests or whether the honours bestowed upon him would be revisited.
Cottrell and Sewell’s appearance was the latest controversy for the former Footy Show host, who has faced accusations of racism, transphobia and misogyny in the past.
In 2020 he resigned from Channel 9 and was condemned for calling George Floyd a “piece of s---” on his podcast shortly after Floyd’s death.
Newman also performed blackface on the Footy Show in 1999 imitating St Kilda great and Indigenous football trailblazer Nicky Winmar after he refused to go on the program.
In recent times he has been a vocal critic of First Nations Welcome to Country ceremonies.
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