Footy legend Graham Cornes has launched a blistering attack on the AFL for trying to legislate the masculinity out of football with what he sees as ‘woke’ decisions that are destroying the fabric of the game.
The first coach of the Adelaide Crows – who stamped himself as an all-time great during his 369-game career – is up in arms over the suspension handed to Demons defender Steven May for his shattering hit on Carlton’s Francis Evans.
May was banned for three weeks for rough conduct, but Melbourne are appealing the decision, which their coach Simon Goodwin and plenty of other big names from the footy world claim will change the way the game is played – and not for the better.
The hit left Evans with a broken nose and concussion, and knocked one of his teeth out, but the Demons and May’s other supporters claim he was just making a legitimate play at the ball.
Cornes praised May as a ‘fearless defender who is prepared to run straight and hard at the ball’ regardless of what the opposition is doing, and said ‘every team needs a player like him’ because he’s ‘big, strong and ferocious’.
But according to the South Australian footy icon, the AFL is determined to rid the game of such footballers – and in the process, take the masculinity out of the sport.
The suspension handed to Demons star Steven May after his hit left Carlton’s Francis Evans bloodied and concussed (pictured) is part of the AFL’s plan to take the masculinity out of the game, according to a footy icon
South Australian legend Graham Cornes (pictured with wife Nicole) has accused the league of trying to drive all the manliness out of the sport
Cornes believes the AFL’s top brass want aggressive stars like Steven May (pictured) to humiliate themselves by shirking contests for the ball
‘This is not an endorsement of football thuggery, more a condemnation of the steady erosion of the manly qualities – yes, I used the term manly – that helped make AFL the greatest team sport in the world, Cornes wrote for News Corp.
‘Yes, the game has changed, but it is not living in the past to lament the deterioration of the sport’s masculinity.’
Cornes went on to say that May was in the right because he and Evans were both competing for the ball and neither had any way of knowing which one of them would get there first.
Despite that, the tribunal found a ‘reasonable player’ would have avoided the collision if they were in May’s place.
Cornes took that to mean the AFL wants its stars to pull out of the contest – and pointed out that doing so, which is known as ‘shirking’, is one of the most embarrassing and career-threatening things a footballer can be accused of.
‘The humiliation of such actions and accusations stay with a footballer for life,’ he wrote.
‘Careers have been terminated because players have shirked the contest.’
May is heavier and taller than Evans, and Cornes said that while the smaller men in the sport need protection, incidents like the hit will keep on occurring.
May (pictured in action against Carlton) was suspended for three weeks for the hit, leading many AFL experts to warn the penalty will change the way the game is played
‘We don’t know what they [players] weigh these days because the AFL in its leaning to wokeness doesn’t put the weights of players in their official record, which had previously been the case,’ Cornes said.
Cornes isn’t the only big name to slam the league for being woke.
Last month, St Kilda legend Nick Riewoldt called the league’s top brass ‘social justice warriors’ for not demoting executive general manager of football Laura Kane sooner.
Kane became a lightning rod for criticism this season over issues such as the Willie Rioli saga, the standard of umpiring and AFL miscommunication around what happened when Collingwood player Lachie Schultz was concussed in a game against Fremantle.
‘If the AFL weren’t so consumed with being social justice warriors, Laura Kane would have been moved aside 12 months ago,’ Riewoldt said.
‘It is (a win) now. Either the role was too big, or she was the wrong person (for the job).’
Melbourne’s case to have May’s suspension quashed will be heard on Monday night.
‘We think he had a play on the ball and it was a football incident,’ Goodwin said after the Demons confirmed they would appeal the Tribunal’s decision.
‘From my perspective, that’s ultimately the argument that we’ll go with.
‘Clearly there’s some legal stuff that they’ll go through in terms of the case as part of the appeal.
‘But you can see it’s divided a lot of the public and I think it’s one of those cases where everyone wants it to go through the appeals (process) and see what the outcome is going to be.’
