AFL turned a lame attempt at humour into a death threat

You’ve got to love a dumb criminal. There was the bank robber who phoned ahead to let them know he was coming, so they could have the money ready. There was the car thief who tried to steal a manual vehicle but couldn’t get it into first gear. When I was at school, a guy got hot and sweaty while burgling a house and took his jumper off. He left it at the scene, not realising that his mum had sewn his name tag into the collar.

This week’s addition to ‘Wanted: Dumb or Alive’ is the football supporter who apparently made a “death threat” against Carlton coach Michael Voss, but sent it to the Melbourne Cricket Ground’s own anti-social hotline. The person was identified as quickly as the geniuses who post footage of themselves stealing cars on TikTok, and has been given a five-year ban from attending AFL games or any sport at the MCG.

Voss, a much-admired man who has been under heavy criticism for Carlton’s performance, said he was “dismissive [of the message] at first”, but felt he should draw attention to “the dark side of football, where we blame, we become victims and it’s this environment where things are quite toxic. We think by showing passion is about anger – and it’s not about that at all.” As for the miscreant, he said, “I’m sorry, you don’t belong here.”

The AFL’s head of security and integrity, Tony Keane, made a statement: “We understand there is passion in the game, however the text message in question sent to the MCG hotline on Friday crossed the line. Regardless of the intent, no coach, player, official, staff member or fan deserves to be threatened in such a way, and now that patron has lost the privilege of attending the footy.”

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