Collingwood boss under fire for making ‘appalling’ Jordan De Goey joke in front of AFLW side
Collingwood president Jeff Browne is under fire after making an “appalling and disrespectful” joke about Jordan De Goey’s New York incident at the club’s AFLW awards, reports the
Herald Sun.
De Goey pleaded guilty to a downgraded harassment charge, with three more serious charges including forcible touching and assault dropped following a plea, over an incident at a nightclub over Halloween weekend last year.
Months later Browne was speaking in front of the club’s women’s players, officials, parents and sponsors when he reportedly made a joke involving De Goey.
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“I hear some of you girls are going overseas tomorrow. I have a message for you from Jordan De Goey, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,’’ Browne said.
The club told the
Herald Sunit was a “bad joke”.
The president, who replaced Mark Korda following months of in-fighting in the aftermath of Eddie McGuire’s exit, told the newspaper: “I made a comment at our best and fairest night which, in hindsight and given the events of the past week, using Jordan as a reference point was not a good example.
“At the time, we had a group of athletes heading overseas the following day and the only intention of my comments were to caution those athletes to not misbehave.’’
A group of Collingwood AFLW players reportedly asked the club to take strong action against De Goey following the New York incident.
He was last week given a $25,000 suspended fine following his behaviour in Bali across the Magpies’ bye, and took personal leave which saw him miss Sunday’s win over GWS.
A Magpies sponsor told the
Herald Sun: “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing at first.
“I turned to the person next to me and said: ‘Did he really just make a Jordan De Goey joke?’
“And they just shook their heads in disbelief.
“It was so disrespectful. It would always be inappropriate, but on a night to celebrate the women’s team, it was just appalling.
“I can’t imagine how the players felt having their season and achievements reduced to a joke.”
Another said: “I can’t believe he would be stupid enough to say that.’’