It is quite the thing that a verbal faux pas from Eddie McGuire, whose expertise and mastery in the field of communications raised the bar for so many of us in the football media, set in motion the chain of events that led to him stepping down from the Collingwood presidency on Tuesday afternoon.
Although he had already flagged his intention to step down as president after 22 years at the end of the season, his ham-fisted “proud and historic” comments, which he hastily inserted into the prepared remarks that were supposed to lead off last week’s media conference addressing issues of racism at Collingwood, was the first of a series of rapid events that led us to Tuesday afternoon’s stunning media conference.
McGuire was only an even-money bet to make it to the start of the season as Collingwood president from that time on, but his cards were really marked when both the past and present players at the club issued strong statements of their own and that both contained thinly-veiled swipes towards McGuire.
It was all very un-Collingwood like. One of the strengths of the McGuire empire at Collingwood (more than two decades means that ‘era’ isn’t quite the right descriptor) was that the Magpies sang from the same song sheet, at least in public. The messaging out of Collingwood wasn't always right but it was always consistent.
The impressive list of Collingwood sponsors, a legacy of McGuire that we'll get to shortly, were noticeably missing last week and again today. That also spoke volumes.
Before McGuire assumed the presidency in late 1998, Collingwood was insignificant. It was St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs, albeit with a few more premiership cups in its dusty trophy cabinet.
But the lifelong, Hurstbridge-line riding Collingwood supporter knew the potential of the club, that it should aspire to once more sit alongside Carlton, Essendon, Richmond and even the interstate behemoths West Coast and Adelaide in size and importance.
With his ambition, his gift of the gab and ability to close a deal, he got there. He hit the ground running. He had the Pies wearing Armani suits, even though they finished bottom of the ladder in his first year as president. He boldly traveled to Perth, TV cameras in tow, to pinch Mick Malthouse – who had still had a year remaining on his contract – from under the nose of the Eagles to become Collingwood coach.
The big name sponsors joined the club once it moved to the MCG from Victoria Park. His most audacious move of all came when he somehow convinced Athletics Victoria (he was a board member of the national body at the time) to relocate away from its longtime and traditional home at Olympic Park to the site of the old Lake Oval in Albert Park. And who do you think took its place in a prized location in the heart of the Melbourne sports precinct just a stone’s throw from the MCG?
Given his ‘Eddie Everywhere’ moniker, conflicts were always going to abound. He broadcast Collingwood games while Channel Nine had the AFL’s TV rights, purportedly under instruction from Kerry Packer. Everyone knew he probably shouldn’t for the sake of the integrity of the broadcast, but who was going to stop him? Tim Lane, ever-so-briefly a colleague at Nine, was the only notable figure to speak up about it and he was soon calling games for Channel Ten instead. In the end it became fun, and watching McGuire commentate a Collingwood defeat on a Friday night was for many, a thoroughly enjoyable way to start to the weekend.
By the middle of his time at the helm, the Pies were a cash machine and were contending for premierships. Collingwood’s lengthy philanthropic endeavours, which McGuire opened the media conference with on Tuesday, were certainly laudable and raised the bar for every other club in the AFL to follow.
But his was an old-school way of doing things. Throw money at the less fortunate and people might look the other way and not notice any shortcomings. There wasn't a whole lot of consultation going on and absolutely no succession plan when it came to the presidency. Heaven help any journalist who dared raise the issue. Collingwood was one of the few large institutions in the country to have the same leader for so long. Corporate Australia couldn't believe what they were seeing.
It was only natural that fatigue, hubris and ego began to take control. It had been his way or the highway for so long at Collingwood that nobody challenged him over the King Kong, Land of the Falafel and especially the “Caroline Wilson drowning remarks” that if said now, just five years later, would surely have resulted in his instant dismissal as president.
When McGuire first took over at Collingwood, he openly sniggered at John Elliott, the longtime Carlton president, who with every passing year looked more and more tin-eared and out of touch with modern football and current thinking.
McGuire was veering dangerously down the same path. Carlton could not fully embrace the AFL’s equalization measures until Elliott was forced from the door. Collingwood could not become totally inclusive and a 2020’s type progressive organisation until McGuire became its ex-president.
Which all meant that Tuesday was a good day for Collingwood. And necessary. But all things considered, the good outweighed the bad for McGuire at Collingwood and the shame for him was that he couldn't engineer the proper farewell tour that until just recently, he thoroughly deserved.