Former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire says a decision to ban him from Western Australia for the AFL grand final doesn’t make any sense.
McGuire will miss a grand final for the first time since 1976, after authorities in WA rejected his application to enter the state.
The AFL announced earlier this week that Perth would host the decider for the first time, and McGuire had been planning to take part in a number of activities to promote the state, including crosses to Nine shows such as Today and Footy Classified.
Western Australian premier Mark McGowan said McGuire was not considered essential to the staging of the grand final.
“This is the thing that does all our heads in,” McGuire told Nine’s Today show.
“We had actually been in negotiations with Tourism WA to come over and do a whole suite of shows.
“Everything from Millionaire Hot Seat, Footy Classified, the grand final parade for Fox Footy, all those things, and WA Tourism were fantastic.
“We got knocked off, but then suddenly it became a little bit of a cause célèbre yesterday and everyone piled on.”
McGuire said he wasn’t seeking preferential treatment to enter Western Australia.
“It was quite incredible, I’m a bit disappointed because it doesn’t make any sense if you’re actually trying to promote the state by having the AFL grand final there,” he said.
“Am I disappointed? Of course. I love football.
“(But) there’s lots of people disappointed at the moment. No-one was trying to push to the front of the queue. It makes no sense, but what makes sense these days when a politician gets in front of a microphone.”
McGuire’s application reportedly ended up on the desk of the Western Australian police commissioner, who rejected the request.
“I don’t have any issue with the police commissioner of WA, or Mark McGowan having strict rules, so long as you treat everybody equally,” he said.
“In the end, it probably suits people to say, ‘look, we’re being tough.’
“It’s an easy one to come out and give me a belt. It’s part of the territory.
“We had an opportunity to promote Western Australia, with the state government who have obviously got this in mind, because they went and got the grand final for god’s sake.
“We were going to stimulate the economy. It doesn’t matter, I don’t want to go to the front of the queue.”
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