Eddie McGuire on soccer: a lost document found

I lost this nearly three years ago and now I've just found it. It's a dot-point report on Eddie McGuire's speech to the Collingwood coterie crowd. He is articulating his fears about what might happen if Australia were to host a World Cup

May 10, 2010

A mate was at a Collingwood coterie last Friday. He reported to me that Eddie talked for 45 minutes. A big chunk of that was taken up with a focus on the WC and sokkah. He made the following points to the gathered 200:

1. The World Cup bid is a white elephant because it will cost too much too run at the expense of the AFL.

2. The AFL and Collingwood will lose money from the bid because of season's suspension and rescheduling of games.

3. The AFL brand will suffer in the 5 years prior to the World Cup because of FIFA promotion and advertising.

4. AFL grass roots is in danger because kids will be seduced by the world game.

5. AFL is in danger from young kids and newly arrived migrants playing soccer.

6. He likes Soccer as long as it is not played widely in Australia.(Celtic in particular)

7. Claimed the bid will directly affect the finances of the Collingwood football club.

8. Claimed FIFA demands 12 stadiums with a capacity of 50,000 plus a two month suspension of AFL and an agreement that AFL will not use these stadiums during that period.

9. Claims that FIFA will put pressure on the AFL not to promote footy during the tournament.

The issue is not so much smelling the fear as using the rhetoric of fear. Eddie uses soccer the way a Cold War politician used communism, or the way a priest would use the devil. The priest doesn't believe in the devil (he is most likely an athiest!) but his flock is terrified of him.

Eddie also reported (to much merriment) that Malthouse described Dawes as a "Brighton Grammar poofter".