Cricket great Shane Warne’s verbal attack on Waleed Aly after he was announced as a potential AFL consultant is the latest chapter in a long running feud.
Warne and Aly have been at loggerheads since an interview between the two on The Project in 2016 which resulted in the cricket great calling the panellist ‘arrogant’, ‘smug’ and a ‘d***’.
The interview came in the wake of Warne’s appearance on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! two years ago.
Aly brought up an audit of Warne’s charity, the Shane Warne Foundation, which Warne seemed to take exception to,
‘We have nothing to hide. We welcome any audit, it’s really disappointing that people want to come after some good people that have raised a lot of money and made a serious difference to seriously underprivileged children,’ he snapped in the interview.
‘You can all get stuffed if you want to have a go at us for it but we are very, very proud of what we have been able to achieve.’
Warne followed up by accusing Aly of thinking he had ‘something to hide’ and then took to Twitter after the interview.
‘Disappoints me some journos think in an interview being a dick is cool. Tip, if u want people back don’t be inappropriate, arrogant or smug,’ he wrote in 2016.
And then this week Warne took to Twitter to launch an incredible spray after being left stunned by reports the TV personality had been brought in to give his opinions about potential new rules for the AFL.
Waleed Aly (pictured here with his wife Susan Carland) is reportedly being consulted by the AFL about rule changes
He shared the tweet to his Instagram account along with an updated caption.
‘Thanks for all they great feedback today on my tweet & I’m glad so many of you agree with me too!’ he wrote.
‘Please tell me this is fake news and that this arrogant cretan (sic) is in no way way involved on any level,’ the original tweet read.
Other social media users and fans alike were quick to chime in on the social media post.
‘Loving the aggression Shane,’ one fan wrote.
‘Spot on! The bloke is a goose,’ another added.
‘In what world would Wal Ali have any idea what he was talking about in regards to rule changes in AFL,’ yet another wrote.
Warne and Aly have been at logger heads since an interview between the two on The Project in 2016 which resulted in the cricket great calling the panelist ‘arrogant’, ‘smug’ and a ‘d***’
However many fans were also quick to call out Warne and defend Aly, some even citing the 2016 interview.
‘He questioned about your foundation which eventually closed and you didn’t like it. Big fan of yours but stop being a c*** because he has denied today that he was not involved in what you are saying. So looks like you are spreading the fake news,’ one user wrote.
‘I feel like you’re going after him because of your interview with him on The Project….There were allegations (which eventually substantiated) floating around your foundation. You went on a national news program. He was well within his right to question you about it’another added.
Australian cricketing great Shane Warne (pictured) took to Twitter to slam the news
Aly, a Gold Logie-winner and host of Channel Ten’s The Project, has been involved in a series of one-off meetings with league footy boss Steve Hocking, AFL spokesman Patrick Keane confirmed to the Herald Sun.
He is being asked for his opinion about the game alongside several others, including broadcaster Gerard Whateley and AFL great Malcolm Blight.
The AFL is looking into rule changes to make the game more free-flowing amid concerns from fans there is a lack of scoring and too much on-field congestion.
Warne said in his Twitter post ‘please tell me this is fake news’ in response to reports of Waleed Aly being asked to give his opinion on improvements to the AFL
Any changes to the rules will take effect from the 2019 season.
The key mooted change is the introduction of assigned starting positions at each restart after a goal or at the beginning of a quarter, with six players from each side inside both 50-metre arcs and six between the arcs.
A longer goal square – allowing kick-ins to travel further upfield and prevent it being ‘locked in’ – is also under consideration.
The news set Twitter alight, with many commentators left perplexed at the decision
Aly told SEN he had a briefing with Hocking after an informal chat with AFLW chief executive Nicole Livingstone but said that did not amount to a formal consultation.
‘I work at Channel 10 on a show called The Project and Nicole Livingstone, who’s been a colleague of mine before… in the course of being on that show…off air… I was pressing her as any self-respecting broadcaster would do, about what exactly the AFL was planning,’ Aly said.
But Aly said Livingstone had told him she could not provide him with any details.
‘She then said, “If you want, I can get you to a briefing and you can see what they’re looking at, the analysis behind it, that sort of thing”.
Warne, who also noted in his tweet that ‘I love AFL football like so many other people’, was not the only one to comment – news of Aly’s involvement with the AFL set Twitter alight.
‘Why on Earth would the AFL consult Waleed Aly on rule changes, makes no sense,’ one comment said.
Many Twitter users, including sports writer Richard Hinds, defended Aly and his AFL insight
Another said they had ‘heard it all now’ and ‘AFL you’re always good for a laugh’.
Australian basketball star Andrew Bogut also weighed in, saying ‘AFL I love your sense of humour’.
But sports writer Richard Hinds defended the AFL seeking the views of Aly, a fervent Richmond Tigers supporter.
‘I’ve talked footy with Waleed Aly plenty of times. He knows more about the modern game than a few people on the AFL’s silly rules panels and less than some others. But so predictable he is the one attacked for being asked his opinion,’ Hinds wrote on Twitter.
Others also defended Aly and his AFL knowledge.
‘Some of the comments about lifelong Richmond supporter, Waleed Aly, being consulted by the rules committee are just downright ignorant. I’ll take an esteemed academic, lawyer, writer and 30 year grassroots supporter over most already in the committee tbh,’ a Twitter user commentated.
Waleed Aly (pictured) is a well-known supporter of the Richmond Tigers AFL team