Former AFL player Brandon Jack has roasted Eddie McGuire for offering a ‘classic non-apology-apology’ after he criticised a double amputee plane crash victim over a pre-match AFL coin toss.
McGuire has stood himself down from scheduled TV commitments after mocking the way Sydney Swans Ambassador Cynthia Banham tossed the coin before the match between the Swans and Adelaide at the SCG on Friday night.
Ms Banham had both legs amputated after a horror plane crash in 2007 that killed 21 others.
Before the match on Friday McGuire had commented on Ms Banham’s coin toss.
‘I think we should issue a $5000 fine for anybody who is tossing the coin and can’t do it properly.’
Cynthia Banham (pictured centre) was mocked by Eddie McGuire for her coin toss before Friday night’s AFL match between Sydney and Adelaide
‘Every week we have someone dropping it on their foot. Come on, toss it up properly for goodness sake. Practice in the week, you know you’re going to do it. It can’t be that hard can it guys, seriously,’ McGuire said.
Brandon Jack, a former Sydney Swans star, slammed McGuire in an opinion piece on 10daily.com, saying that the TV host had tried to shift blame onto those who were offended by his comments, rather than accept ownership for his mistake.
Jack was referring to a halftime apology made by McGuire where he said: ‘I’m sorry if what I said was communicated the wrong way.’
Jack also criticised McGuire for saying his comments had ‘nothing’ do with Ms Banham, when in fact, in Jack’s opinion, they did.
Eddie McGuire (pictured) commented that ‘we should issue a $5000 fine for anybody who is tossing the coin and can’t do it properly’
‘That’s a nice line to throw around, Eddie, it really is. But you said what you said in direct relation to Cynthia Banham, so don’t say it has ‘nothing’ to do with her,’ Jack wrote.
For his part, McGuire also released a later statement in which he said he was ‘devastated and apologetic’ after learning the identity of the woman he poked fun at, reported news.com.
‘I didn’t see the lead up to the toss and had no knowledge of who it was.’
‘I saw out of the corner of my eye the coin fly out and was having a laugh at coin tossing in general.’
Cynthia Banham (pictured), who is a Sydney Swans ambassador, had both legs amputated after a horror plane crash in 2007
‘Once I realised who and what it was I was totally devastated and apologetic,’ the Fox Footy commentator said.
The Sydney Swans said in a statement that Ms Banham is a ‘passionate’ club member, ‘our number one ticket holder’ and a ‘courageous woman.’
The club also said it was ‘incredibly disappointed by inappropriate comments made tonight by Eddie McGuire.’
Ms Banham is a former journalist and holds a Doctor of Philosophy and a Masters in International Affairs.
McGuire (pictured), has suspended himself, with the support of Fox Sports, from his commenting duties on Fox Footy
Brandon Jack also attacked McGuire over the blunder because it was not his first.
‘This isn’t Eddie’s first time blurting out complete ignorance to a large audience, then following it up with an apology that reduces the severity of what he’s done,’ wrote Jack.
Jack was referring to comments McGuire made about football writer, Caroline Wilson, where he said he would pay $50,000 to see her stay under a pool of iced water and charge more for ‘everyone to stand around the outside and bomb her.’
He defended himself at the time by calling his comments ‘banter’ and saying: ‘[he] didn’t see it as being in any way shape or form sexist.’
McGuire (pictured) has also made offensive comments in the past
Further back, McGuire was forced to apologise after he suggested former Swans star, Adam Goodes, should be used to promote the musical King Kong.
After that incident Jack reports that McGuire said ‘I made a blue this morning. My excuse? I was a bit zoned out,’ ‘
‘[But] people don’t resign because they make a slip of the tongue. It’s as simple as that,’ he said.
Jack added ‘that if it happens a bit too often, I really don’t think we can say it’s a slip of the tongue, or banter, or a joke that was taken the wrong way.’
He also suggested it might be time for McGuire to ‘put more effort into his commentary.’
Cynthia Banham had both legs amputated after she was involved in this horror plane crash (pictured) in Yogjakarta, Indonesia in 2007
‘If you’re commentating a game of football, you should be aware of the stories involved in the game.’
‘If you really cared about your job, you’d extend that beyond the football field. If someone was going to come up on your screen, you should know who they are and why they are there,’ he said.
McGuire has suspended himself from further commenting duties, a decision made with the support of Fox Sports.