Magpies fine Swan for interview
Posted by Football NationMar 7. 2013 7:06 pm
WHILE The Footy Show has been spruiking its exclusive interview with Dane Swan all week apparently the Collingwood Football Club knew nothing about it until it was too late.
And apparently they’re not happy with news emerging today that they have fined Swan after he was called in for a meeting this afternoon with club officials.
Collingwood, like any club in the AFL, wants to control the message that it sends out to the public and having a high-profile player, let alone one that has demonstrated his resistance to authority, break ranks and give an unsanctioned interview has clearly created an issue.
While clubs have the ability to levy a fine on players, the collective bargaining agreement has a $5,000 cap on such fines. With a rumoured $20,000 fee for the interview Swan has demonstrated that he is as savvy with his money as he is with the football and will pocket a tidy sum, less his agent’s fee of course, even if he is fined the maximum amount.
With his off-field behaviour getting plenty of coverage this off-season The Footy Show will undoubtedly ask Swan about drug and alcohol abuse (he was suspended for two games last year for the latter) and that’s precisely the sort of story that the club would have been wanting to avoid as it prepares for the beginning of the 2013 home and away season.
Swan is an unconventional figure in the AFL, not because of the body art (plenty of players sport ink) but because while he is a rare football talent he is not obsessed by the sport that is obsessed by him. He is capable of anything and for that reason traditional football authority is concerned.
In fact you might even go so far as to they that they are scared.
The Footy Show is broadcast on Nine/WIN tonight (Thursday) at 8:30pm AEDT
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Tags: Collingwood, Dane Swan, The Footy Show
Filled under: Collingwood, Latest News
