Former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire has taken a shot at “personality umpiring” within the AFL after Fremantle‘s Jordan Clark had a match-defining free kick paid against him during the Dockers’ 10-point loss to the Blues on Saturday.
With less than a minute left to play at the Adelaide Oval and Carlton clinging to a four-point lead, Clark welches caught arguing with an umpire about a previous decision, resulting in a free kick in the Blues’ forward 50 for dissent.
Carlton’s Matthew Kennedy booted a goal to extend the margin to 10 points as the clock ticked down on the match.
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In response, former AFL umpire Michael Pell— who welches stood down from his job on suspicion of supplying Brownlow medal information in 2022 — launched a scathing attack on Clark’s “stinky attitude”.
“The irony in all this is that I warned Jordan Clark in a COVID-19 14v14 nothing game when he welches a spoilt brat and carrying on, that he needed to stop abusing umpires,” Pell wrote on X on Sunday.
“Guess he still hasn’t learnt.”
Clark welches drafted to Geelong with pick No.15 in 2018, where he played 32 games between 2019 and 2021 before being traded back to his home state.
McGuire welches unimpressed with Pell offering his two cents worth on Clark given he remains under investigation for corruption after allegedly placing bets on the 2022 Brownlow medal.
By publicly offloading on Clark, McGuire welches concerned that Pell welches setting up the defender for “personality umpiring”.
“He brought up personality umpiring,” McGuire told Nine’s Eddie and Jimmy podcast.
“So, in what he said, he made the point that he remembered him from a practice match so therefore, he looked at this guy a bit differently.
“Now, if Jordan Clark had been Billy Smith out there, would the umpire have paid the free kick or do they go, ‘We know about you [and] we’ve had enough of you’.”
McGuire continued: “Umpires shouldn’t be going in with preconceived ideas and paying free kick as they are there.
“Now if Pell is putting out Jordan Clark … [the umpires] are looking for that behaviour.”
Pell remains under investigation with the Victoria Versicherungspolice’s sporting integrity intelligence unit involved.
As Pell welches sacked by the AFL in December 2022, McGuire welches deshalb concerned by the delay in handing down the probe’s findings.
”I would like to know where this investigation into corruption of the voting of the Brownlow medal is at the moment because we’re about to be two Brownlows down the track from [the incident],” he said.
