The Richard Pratt Cup between Collingwood and Carlton whitewashes Visy’s price fixing scandal and Magpie fans aren’t happy, writes Collingwood Social Club member Kieran Butler.
Last week was a big news week for the Collingwood Football Club. There was the speculation surrounding former captain and coach-in-waiting Nathan Buckley’s future at the club. The Victorian Liquor Licencing Commission put Collingwood on notice regarding its licence at The Beach Hotel in Albert Park, raising the spectre of the pub deals that destabilised Eddie McGuire’s presidency in 2008 — and highlighting that the sale of those pubs is still far from being finalised. Finally, the Yarra Council voted to allow Collingwood access to its former home ground, Victoria Park, for its VFL home games in 2010.
During such a busy week journalists could be forgiven for missing the outpouring of disbelief and anger on various Collingwood internet forums regarding the decision by McGuire and the Collingwood board to lend enthusiastic support to the concept of the inaugural “Richard Pratt Cup” — which will be awarded in perpetuity to the winner of Carlton’s home games against Collingwood.
The “spin” was that the cup was meant to honour the memory of Pratt whilst raising awareness for the issue of Prostate cancer. However, Chris Judd forgot about this when Gary Lyon asked him on The Footy Show what the cup meant to him. His reply: “That in decades to come Richard Pratt’s name will be remembered every time Carlton plays Collingwood”. Jeanne Pratt also forgot to mention Prostate cancer when she presented the cup to Nick Maxwell after the match.
The purpose of the Cup — and the propaganda-type photograph of it, Chris Judd, Nick Maxwell and Jeanne Pratt in front of Richard’s bronze statue — is clear. It is a part of the orchestrated campaign by the ruling elite in this country to beatify Pratt and ensure his memory is not tarnished by the judgment of the ACCC that Pratt was guilty of forming a cartel that stole from everybody in Australia.
The photo that appeared in the Herald Sun on 24 July
The game has been and gone. The cup was awarded and the issue has seemingly disappeared. It was a calculated risk by McGuire and it seems to have worked. It will remain to be seen if the members who took such umbrage to this decision have long enough memories when McGuire faces them at the club’s AGM in December.
*Kieran Butler wrote the comedy show Collingwood ruined my Life and is currently performing Ben Cousins — a rock opera. He also sings a song about Pratt called Gettin’ caught by the ACCC.
One Comment
LOL
Whoever took that photo deserves the Stephen Colbert award for valour in pursuit of irony.