AFL club’s social media joke backfires badly as fans take it seriously and lash out at the team for crossing a line

The Gold Coast Suns have come under fire from footy fans after the club’s social media joke backfired in spectacular fashion.

The AFL fined defender Ben Long $3750 this week for a striking offence involving Collingwood enforcer Brayden Maynard in last Saturday’s win over Collingwood.

Taking to X on Wednesday, the Suns’ lightheartedly said the club wanted fans to help Long – who earns a reported $325,000 per year – to pay off the penalty.

‘In light of the Ben Long appeal being unsuccessful we will be starting a @gofundme to help Longy pay off the $3,750 fine,’ the original tweet read.

It didn’t take long for footy fans online to voice their anger.

‘Isn’t that salary cap infringement?,’ asked supporter Todd Davey.

‘Suns should lose premiership points for this,’ posted another fan, before a third weighed in with: ‘Shouldn’t you worry about making a final series’, a reference to the club never finishing in the AFL top eight dating back to their inception in 2011.

Many other fans expressed similar views, writing ‘Suns should lose premiership points for this’, ‘just use some of the millions in AFL handouts you get yearly’ and ‘really mature from Suns. Salary cap breach for sure’.

Defender Ben Long was issued a fine of $3750 this week by the AFL for a striking offence involving Collingwood enforcer Brayden Maynard

Footy fans didn’t find the ‘joke’ from the Gold Coast Suns’ media department remotely funny

Hours later, the Suns posted again on X – the social media platform formerly known as Twitter – declaring: ‘the amount of people that could not tell this was a joke is concerning.’

The backlash prompted a second tweet from the Suns where they posted ‘the amount of people that could not tell this was a joke is concerning’

The second post attracted an avalanche of criticism, with fans unimpressed at the attempted banter.

‘Jokes are usually funny, this was not,’ one commented.

Another posted: ‘The only joke was Gold Coast actually appealing a blatant fine.’

As part of their verification guidelines, GoFundMe clearly explain the type of fundraising deemed acceptable on their website – and helping a wealthy footballer pay a fine for an on-field offence wouldn’t be approved.

It comes after footy fans called for Magpies star Maynard to be fined after his deemed theatrics in the tussle with Long.

Following a push from Long, Maynard clutched his midsection, with the Collingwood premiership player falling to the ground dramatically to win a free kick.

‘Fine incoming for staging for Maynard? Grabbing his head and trying to sell it as a high hit,’ posted one fan on X.

‘Maynard can give it but he can’t receive it,’ replied another.

‘Maynard better be fined for staging. That was pathetic,’ wrote a third.