Manly great Owen Cunningham has revealed new details about the wild Magic Round brawl he got caught up in.
Footage of the disgraceful incident shows Cunningham, 55, pushed over in the grandstand as a number of people throw punches at each other around him.
It was an ugly start to the NRL’s round 10 festival at Suncorp Stadium.
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Cunningham has now spoken publicly about the incident, telling Wide World of Sports’ 4BC radio his family was set upon by several people.
“I’ve never been one for conflict … it was a bit of a shock to all of us,” Cunningham said.
“We sourced tickets through Manly… so we thought we would sort of be sitting with Manly people. There was a bit of a (bad) feeling there, you know?
“My son was sitting in front of us with his girlfriend. They ended up in a bit of an argument, and my oldest lad turned around to the guy (who was arguing with them) and said ‘mate, what’s your problem?’. He turned to watch the game again then he’s been whacked in the back of the head.”
Cunningham revealed he later had to take his son to hospital, where scans revealed a broken bone in his nose.
He said the “melee went berserk” when his other sons stood up for one another.
“It was hard to just stand there and watch it unfold in front of you when your flesh and blood is taking a hammering, and there was a lot of them,” he said.
“I was surprised at how many people thought it was funny. I was I was at the Greek Theatre, it was wild. And no one helped.
“It’s not the Australian way, mate.”
Cunningham said while police took the phone number of his son’s partner, none of them have yet been contacted by authorities about the incident.
He plans to speak to Queensland police on Tuesday.
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