SIXTEEN years on from an incident that forever changed the way football would treat indigenous Australians, former Collingwood ruckman Damian Monkhorst has spoken for the first time in detail of his regret at having racially vilified Essendon's Michael Long.
Admitting that every April 25 brought a reminder of the incident, it seems that this week's retrospective awarding of the Anzac Day Medal for his 20-disposal, 13-hitout effort in the 1997 clash has laid Monkhorst's ghosts to rest.
He told the Herald Sun, "It was a huge mistake on my part, but it has made a great difference to the AFL and to the indigenous boys running around at the moment, and that's fantastic."
He had "heard from other sources" that racial slurs were then widespread, Monkhorst said, but insisted his verbal attack on Long was a one-off.
It came about, Monkhorst said, when Long jumped into his back, trying to win a free kick.
"The umpire called out to me three times to try and get up, but I couldn't because Longy was putting the legs into my back.
"I reacted the wrong way in the heat of the moment, and I've had to live with that ever since."
Now a ruck coach at Hawthorn, Monkhorst, 41, said the Launceston spectator who yelled racial abuse at Lance Franklin last weekend should be banned.
"I still play country footy (with Woori Yallock) and the crowd doesn't get involved in that sort of stuff any more," he said.
"Unfortunately, Buddy copped a hard one on the weekend and no doubt they should have thrown that guy out.
"This bloke was beyond the boundary line taking cheap shots. I bet you face to face he wouldn't say that to him because Bud would rip his head off."
The Walls have opinions
Four and a bit rounds into the AFL season, and The Age's Robert Walls says many lessons can already be learned from 2011.
The match review panel is off to a bad start. The substitute rule is off to a good start. In relation to Gary Ablett and his supposed lack of commitment to the Suns' cause, Guy McKenna needs to "stand for something, [or] he will end up falling for everything". Oh, and there's too much "smart talk" from McKenna as well.
Walls questions why anyone would want to leave Collingwood for Greater Western Sydney, trading 80,000 at the 'G for "a sparsely filled showground. Why wander anonymously around the back streets of Blacktown when you have the keys to the city here?"
More responsibility? More game time? More money? Quite liking anonymity? Quite liking Blacktown?
Walls, somewhat begrudgingly given his history with the red-and-black, notes that Essendon is up and about. "Their big test of course will come on Anzac Day. If they win I'm leaving town."
So too, it seems, is North.
"North is becoming increasingly irrelevant," Walls writes.
"The Kangaroos hop from one venue to another. Will it be Sydney, Canberra, Gold Coast or Tasmania? On field they are too workmanlike, not enough speed or sparkle. Name a match-winner, a game-breaker?
"If it loses to Richmond on Sunday a long bleak winter looms."
In brief
Sydney Swans Jude Bolton has written a formal letter of complaint to the AFL about the state of the ANZ Stadium surface. The Herald Sun reports that Bolton lodged his complaint after the round two win over Essendon, and that the AFL has sought an explanation from stadium management.
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon's meteorological knowledge has been called into question by Brisbane's Courier Mail. Lyon expressed bewilderment at the state of the Gabba on Thursday night, noting that the northern capital had been in a dry spell. "Apparently he was unaware the city has had its wettest start to a year in history and there was heavy rain earlier in the week," sniffed the newspaper.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
