{"id":33348,"date":"2021-02-09T22:00:30","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T23:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=33348"},"modified":"2021-02-10T11:47:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T11:47:00","slug":"what-even-eddies-biggest-haters-must-concede","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=33348","title":{"rendered":"What even Eddie's biggest haters must concede"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recall a story Eddie McGuire<\/a> told me probably midway through his 23-year reign as Collingwood president.<\/p>\n

He was walking down a street with his two then-young sons when a group of youngsters, onboard a passing tram, began hurling abuse at him.<\/p>\n

It was all Collingwood related but at that moment, he wondered if the presidency was worth being belittled in front of his boys.<\/p>\n

History will show the club won out and his sons would go on to accept that their dad would, at times, cop flak.<\/p>\n

And copped flak he has. Some justified, some not.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

He's not naive enough to suggest he doesn't bring some of it upon himself; a sometimes blinkered view of the game he loves so much polarising public opinion.<\/p>\n

Indeed, public opinion of McGuire is split in the wake of his resignation as Collingwood president<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In truth, he was always going to struggle not to step down following the leaking of the independent report that found Collingwood guilty of systemic racism.<\/p>\n

The report included a veiled reference to Eddie's apparent failings as an influential, if not THE influential, figure at the club.<\/p>\n

The situation was not helped by his now infamous, and now lethal, comment that it was a "proud" day for the club<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McGuire went off script, prompting his detractors to go off tap.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

His opponents would've been high-fiving last night, celebrating the downfall of football's highest-profile administrator.<\/p>\n

But outweighing that will be those equally furious that McGuire has, quite possibly, become a victim of those who thrive on being outraged.<\/p>\n

But even his most ardent detractors would have to concede that McGuire has done more for his club than any other president in the game's history.<\/p>\n

Not just club, but community.<\/p>\n

The Magpies enjoy one of the most envied headquarters in Australian sport, right in the heart of the sporting precinct.<\/p>\n

It also has a premiership cup in the trophy cabinet, won on McGuire's watch.<\/p>\n

Brick and mortar and silverware are very much part of his legacy, but so too are the many projects to help those in dire need of support.<\/p>\n

The homeless were found homes … the hungry were given food … the lonely were taken in as part of the Collingwood family.<\/p>\n

These weren't photo opportunities for McGuire. Most of the work was done with not a camera in sight.<\/p>\n

So, as much as history will record his exit as a result of a racism issue that should've been dealt with much, much earlier, McGuire will also be remembered as a visionary.<\/p>\n

\"Eddie<\/p>\n

Many leaders are denied the dignity of exiting on their own terms and McGuire has clearly joined the list.<\/p>\n

He'll be hurting.<\/p>\n

There's no doubt about that.<\/p>\n

Nor should there be any doubt that when it's weighed up, his achievements will far outweigh his failings.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recall a story Eddie McGuire told me probably midway through his 23-year reign as Collingwood president. He was walking down a street with his […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33348"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33348"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33350,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33348\/revisions\/33350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}