Collingwood fans are fuming over the treatment of controversial star Jack Ginnivan by both umpires and players – so much so they are set to protest outside the MCG this weekend.
After starting the season with a two-game ban due to admitting to illicit drug use in the offseason, Ginnivan has flipped between playing in the AFL and playing reserves footy for the club in the VFL, with competition fierce for spots in the ladder-leading Magpies side.
The small forward has often found himself a target for opposition players over his reputation for staging for free kicks, and Magpies fans say it has become too much.
In Collingwood’s huge win over Frankston in the VFL on Saturday, 11 players were charged by the tribunal over an all-in brawl that was sparked when Ginnivan was grabbed around the neck and tackled to the ground after teammate Reef McInnes won a free kick.
In Channel 7’s broadcast of the match, Ginnivan can then be seen appearing to drop his arm into the head of an opponent, with a mass scuffle between both teams then ensuing.
Jack Ginnivan, pictured with Magpies teammate Nick Daicos last year, is being targeted by opposition players and not getting fair treatment from umpires, according to Collingwood fans
They claim Ginnivan’s, pictured in a contest with Cats star Zach Guthrie last year, treatment by umpires is a ‘disgrace’
The Collingwood star has garnered huge attention around the footy world over his controversial staging attempts for free kicks
He has been in and out of Collingwood’s team this season, after starting the year on a two-game ban over illicit drug use
Collingwood fans were incensed at the behaviour of Frankston players, flooding social media with their complaints.
‘His treatment by the AFL and their umpire lackeys has been an out and out disgrace,’ one said, with another decrying the ‘shocking treatment of Ginnivan’.
‘A disgraceful way to play the game and it showed on the scoreboard also, try and focus on winning games instead,’ said the fed-up fans.
The AFL really needs a proper reserves competition. Second time in a month Collingwood senior players at VFL level have been targeted. Preston and now Frankston,’ said a third.
Fans have also complained directly with the AFL via an online integrity portal.
One prominent supporter, Angie McCarthy, said hundreds were now planning a bizarre protest outside the MCG this weekend ahead of Collingwood’s game against the Bulldogs on Friday which, coincidentally, is down the road at Marvel Stadium.
One prominent Magpies supporter is urging fellow fans to come out like an army to support Ginnivan
Pies fans may stage a protest this weekend, fed up with the treatment of Ginnivan
Pies fans believe Ginnivan is not given the fair rub of the green by umpires. He’s pictured dropping his knees and earning a free kick from Carlton player Adam Saad last year
‘Collingwood fans are at the point where they think his treatment is so unfair that it is affecting his game,’ she told News Corp.
‘There are hundreds of Collingwood supporters who want to protest at the MCG. People need to see how desperate fans are getting.
‘We see him as family and we have seen the decline in his game. I have told everyone not to protest yet but if there isn’t a change we will come out in force as the Collingwood army.
‘We have gone from seeing him win the Anzac Medal to being in the VFL and we have seen the difference in how he approaches the game.’
The AFL contacted McCarthy to enquire about the protest plans, but made it clear it was not to discuss umpiring decisions.
Hawthorn great Campbell Brown was in no mood to appease Collingwood supporters, calling their concerns a ‘beat up’
‘This story about Jack Ginnivan getting targeted by Frankston players last weekend in the VFL is the greatest bunch of nonsense I’ve seen. It simply didn’t happen. Complete beat up over 10 seconds of vision in a melee,’ he said on social media.
Other fans were quick to side with Brown’s point, urging Ginnivan and Magpies supporters to focus on getting better on the field.
Jack Ginnivan celebrates a goal in his ANZAC Day Medal-winning performance last year
‘Collingwood becoming like English cricket. Dish it out but can’t take it. F**king losers,’ one said, with another writing: ‘Is there a fan base with a larger victim complex in the AFL?’
‘I get wanting to support him. But this is the wrong way going about it. It’s gaining Ginnivan more unwanted ridicule & attention from other fans … Save Ginni from our own fans…Christ!’ wrote a third.
It is not known yet whether Ginnivan will earn a call-up to the AFL team to play the Bulldogs on the weekend, after kicking four goals in four VFL games.
If not, Collingwood’s VFL side will play against the Bulldogs at Avalon Airport Oval on Friday afternoon.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk