Opinion: Ashley Browne

What I’m thinking

with Ashley Browne

No more silent treatment

A rising star and a premiership hero were on the receiving end from fans at the recent Anzac Day and Easter Monday clashes.

The boo birds were out at the MCG in the aftermath of another Anzac Day blockbuster when Collingwood’s Jack Ginnivan was awarded the medal for best player on the ground.

The exciting Magpie forward is a lightning bolt and has rarely strayed from the headlines since Kane Cornes questioned what he was doing toting a GoPro after Collingwood’s opening win of the season, which he then followed up by cutting off most of his hair and bleaching whatever remained.

He was magnificent against the Bombers, kicking five goals and becoming just the second teenager after fellow Pie Mark McGough in 2002 to win the Anzac Medal.

But it was a Bombers home game, meaning their fans occupied most of the best seats in the house and he raised their ire with a series of gestures after his goals, including a soccer-style shushing gesture and after the last of his goals, a bow.

So, not surprisingly, a chorus of boos cascaded around the MCG after his medal win was announced.

Perhaps Essendon supporters felt Darcy Parish’s 44 touches warranted him winning the medal, but five goals in a winning team should always trump that.

It is not the first time Essendon fans have vented on Anzac Day.

They also jeered when Scott Pendlebury won the medal in 2019 after a hotly-contested game that the Pies won by four points.

The Magpie skipper’s conciliatory words were drowned out by the Essendon crowd which prompted then Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley to say, when it was his turn to speak, “Shame on anyone that booed a champion.”

In this era of 24/7 football obsession, the question of whether it is appropriate to boo at the football is one that bobs up a few times a year and often in the aftermath of landmark games between traditional rivals.

On Easter Monday, it was to do with Isaac Smith, the three-time Hawk premiership wingman but now of Geelong, who was the subject of incessant jeering from the predominantly Hawthorn crowd for much of the afternoon.

This was a tricky one. Smith was a fantastic player over 10 seasons and 210 games for Hawthorn. His set shot goal in the 2013 Grand Final was one of the best and most important in the club’s history.

The system offered him the chance to test the waters of free agency after that decade of distinguished service, so who could begrudge him from seeking the best circumstance to finish his career, especially given that fellow Hawk champions Jordan Lewis, Sam Mitchell and Grant Birchall had previously taken up similar opportunities with the club’s blessing.

But he chose to join Geelong – Hawthorn’s fiercest rival and the club that treats every clash with the Hawks as a Grand Final.

Joel Selwood was rested from the important Brisbane game the week

THE LAST LAUGH: Magpie youngster Jack Ginnivan receives the Anzac Medal from RSL state president Robert Webster at the MCG last Monday. before so that he would be cherry ripe to take on Hawthorn. That’s how big these games are.

Supporters of both clubs have become indoctrinated as to how deep-seated the rivalry is and how big the games are. The AFL clears the schedule every Easter Monday so they have the day to themselves.

Hawk fans have to choose between remembering Smith as a premiership hero or as the player who chose to join a hated rival when there were more palatable options (to them) on the table, such as Melbourne, which came hard and would have given him that fourth flag.

Those who were at the MCG early enough on Easter Monday would have seen Smith spend at least 30 minutes chatting warmly with and embracing all manner of Hawthorn people – players, coaches and staff. Plainly, it was a hard-nosed business decision to leave.

I’m not one for jeering any former player from my team, but football is theatre and is meant to be fun, so I have no issue with those who think differently.

Heroes and villains abound in every sporting contest. And compared with Essendon fans on Anzac Day this year and seasons past, there wasn’t too much venom or invective directed towards Smith, aside from the jeers. Sadly for Hawk fans, they have form and their incessant jeering of Adam Goodes several years back was a blight on them and the game. And it meant that when it came to their treatment of Smith on Easter Monday, they had no chance of winning in the court of public opinion.