Collingwood criticised for video ‘error’ as Pies great reacts to ‘controversial’ move

Collingwood has come under fire for a controversial video that’s infuriating sporting fans and prompted a Pies great to weigh in.

Collingwood is facing firm criticism for its handling of a social media post trumpeting a new training facility that used to be the club’s netball court.

Last week the Magpies posted a video celebrating their new football training facilities, replacing what used to be a netball training base.

The footage sees defender Jeremy Howe explaining to fans about the club’s “newly, fresh laid out indoor court”, which will be used by Collingwood’s AFL and AFLW teams.

“The boys are gonna have a hell of a time in here, so looking forward to it,” he said.

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Magpies players are then seen training on indoor turf, with a miniature footy oval painted over the top, though basketball/netball hoops are also visible at one end.

The area was a netball court for the club’s Super Netball side, which the Magpies folded in 2023, pointing to a reported yearly loss of $1 million.

The Magpies as a whole made a profit of $7.56 million in the financial year ending October 31, 2023.

Meanwhile a recent renovation of the club’s headquarters was funded, in part, by a $15 million federal government infrastructure grant intended to provide improved facilities for women’s sports teams.

Collingwood funded the new indoor turf field itself and the government grant was not used to pay for the turf.

Collingwood's new indoor footy field. Photo: Twitter.

Nick Daicos (left) in the new facility. Photo: Twitter.

Some Magpies fans reacted positively to the video but the overwhelming majority of replies centred on the netball team, criticising the fact the change had been celebrated as an “upgrade”.

The video has been viewed more than 1.2 million times.

Collingwood have been criticised for hiding a reply to the video that said: “Rip our netball team.”

“Fair to say this hasn’t gone down well in the comments and quote tweets,” News Corp’s Lachie McKirdy posted.

He added: “Hiding a comment about the netball team is also an interesting choice.”

Sports management academic Dr Hunter Fujak tweeted: “Congratulations on using women’s sport to siphon taxpayer money into one of the wealthiest men’s football operations in Australia.”

“there ain’t no netball court and there never was!” https://t.co/zFWipDZ7uTpic.twitter.com/95feiqBY2H

— Brett Sprigg (@BrettSprigg) January 20, 2024

Former Magpie Dane Swan, who won the 2010 premiership and the 2011 Brownlow Medal, had an unsurprising response to a comment calling for Collingwood to refund its government grant.

Swan wrote on Twitter: “We never plan to refund you but thanks for helping us win the ‘23 flag fyi. if you’re gonna cry about it cry into our 2023 premiership cup so we can drink your tears out of it. this rabble of a club you speak about is the biggest and best sporting club in Australia. Y U jealous.”

Kane Cornes said Collingwood’s handling of the criticism to the video could have been better.

“The controversial part of this is that the (initial) upgrade was partially built by a $15 million government grant … but Collingwood’s reaction to this was where the error was,” Cornes said on SEN on Monday.

“I don’t reckon Collingwood needs $15 million of taxpayer funded money and I get the backlash behind that … but then Collingwood started blocking people as far as I could see on Twitter and hiding a reply.”

News.com.au has contacted Collingwood for comment.

Dane Swan had a predictable response to the saga.

Collingwood have been replaced in Super Netball competition by the Melbourne Mavericks, a new team backed by media mogul Craig Hutchison.

Magpies CEO Craig Kelly said last year it was an “incredibly difficult” decision to disband the netball team.

“Collingwood is a better place for having had a netball team and the decision to not renew our netball licence has been an incredibly difficult one which has weighed heavily on us,” he said.

“As a club, we are tasked with continuing to deliver growth across all areas of Collingwood and ultimately, the review, which analysed key aspects of the club’s netball program and that of the governing body, determined that the program is not sustainable.

“We acknowledge we could have run a better netball program at Collingwood.”

Originally published as Collingwood criticised for video ‘error’ as Pies great reacts to ‘controversial’ move