10 August, 2015. 14:30
CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | Contact
The Collingwood Magpies have backed Eddie McGuire’s use of the term ‘Fucking Low-Breeds’, saying it’s casual slang used by Collingwood fans to refer to themselves.
The outspoken TV presenter came under fire on Sunday after it was revealed he had called the supporters of his own club “fucking low-breeds” – when describing the “people he grew up with, and still have to deal with on a day-to-day basis as club president.”
It serves as yet another reminder that maybe well-paid, sports-obsessed radio presenters probably aren’t the most articulate voices when it comes to cross-cultural sensitivities in Australia.
However, iconic Collingwood fan and local plasterer, Lenny Lowy, told Fairfax Media the term was “a fun way” of breaking down misconceptions about Collingwood supporters and making them more acceptable to mainstream Australia.
“It just comes down to acceptance,” says Mr Lowy.
“Despite not coming from here, Eddie is an authority on the cultural etiquette of the Collingwood people. For him to call us fucking low-breeds is absolutely fine.”
“We are a different kind of people with a different kind of culture. Eddie has probably learnt a lot from us – namely his political incorrectness, lack of oral hygiene and general larrikin behaviour.”
These comments, while condoned by Collingwood fans, come in the wake of a number of other politically incorrect triumphs by Eddie McGuire, more notably his well-publicised racial melee with Adam Goodes after a teenage low-breed referred to the Indigenous Australian footballers as an “Ape”.
