Eddie: ‘Get stuffed, Sydney’

Collingwood President Eddie McGuire has hit back at accusations of self-interest from Sydney Chairman Andrew Pridham accusing the Swans of hypocrisy when it comes to academies.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire fires back at Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham. Picture: Herald Sun Source: News Limited

COLLINGWOOD president Eddie McGuire has questioned Andrew Pridham's football credentials after the new Swans' chairman referred to him as ''the equivalent of Clive Palmer''.

"I'm not sure he could draw a football, let alone knows much about the competition,'' McGuire told The Daily Telegraph.

"At least in my stoushes with (former Swans chairman) Richard Colless there was a bit of cut and thrust, but this bloke (Pridham) has just turned up.

"I''ve given 17 years of unpaid service (to Collingwood) promoting the game, my club and trying to promote other clubs. I wouldn't know this bloke if I fell over him.''

Pridham launched a scathing attack on the omnipresent McGuire claiming he "dominated the agenda for reasons of self-interest'' and that no one dared keep him to account.

Pridham, an investment banker who had been on the Swans board for 12 years before succeeding Colless, also referred patronisingly to McGuire's professional roles, saying: ''We all know that being a footy club president and a game show host and football commentator is a very important occupation, but it's going a bit far when you start talking about the national interest''.

The Swans have been stung by the loss of their 9.8 per cent "cost of living allowance'' which was removed after they flaunted their hefty salary cap advantage by recruiting high-priced forwards Kurt Tippett and Lance Franklin in successive seasons.

The allowance was scrapped after objections by many Melbourne clubs and McGuire claimed that he had fought to ensure it was phased out gradually rather than taken away immediately as some had insisted.

McGuire was unrepentant about his role in "creating a level playing field for all teams''. "Everyone knew COLA (the cost of living allowance) was a croc. We knew that 10 years ago.''

More recently, Victorian clubs have questioned the operation of the Swans' academy that will allow them to develop and gain access to the still limited number of top-flight players from Sydney.

The Swans claim Victorian clubs have a similar advantage with the large number of players that come from local schools and who want to remain in Melbourne.

But McGuire says that participation rates in Victorians schools are declining and, with it, the prime source of talent for the AFL. ''We need to be doing something about the game in the heartland region and for the clubs that are paying their own way, not just the ones that are living off it.''

Earlier, on his Triple-M radio show, McGuire claimed the Swans failure to develop the game in Sydney had led to the establishment of the Giants. Yet the Swans had voted against the Giants' establishment.

"When you talk about developing the game on a national level, Collingwood and all the others voted for GWS to come in, but there was one team who fought harder than anyone — in fact the only opposition to it — was the Swans,'' he said. "They are the greatest protectors of their self interest that God's put breath into it.''

Fittingly given the level of banter to which the debate descended, McGuire finished his radio segment by saying "get stuffed Sydney''.

Originally published as Eddie: 'Get stuffed, Sydney'

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