I share pain of AFL boss, says Clubs Australia chief



CLUBS Australia chief Anthony Ball has brushed aside AFL boss Andrew Demetriou’s labelling of him as a “hillbilly”, but insists he did not drag the Australian Football League into a campaign against Labor’s poker-machine reforms.


Mr Ball told The Australian he had been called worse names, and understood Mr Demetriou’s frustration that the issue of poker-machine reform had cast a shadow over grand final week.

Mr Demetriou yesterday sought to clarify his comments from Monday, telling 2GB radio in Sydney he did not mean to cause any personal offence to Mr Ball and intended only to ensure he did not speak on behalf of his football code.

Mr Ball suggested the AFL was primarily responsible for intensifying the debate over poker-machine reform, following public comments last week by Collingwood president Eddie McGuire on the Today show and by Mr Demetriou on 3AW radio in Melbourne.

“Andrew’s known for his colourful turn of phrase. I’m certainly not offended by that. I’ve certainly been called worse,” Mr Ball said yesterday. “We didn’t raise it in grand final week. It actually became public last Friday when he and Eddie McGuire went on the public record. I suspect more than anything that has led to it becoming an issue.”

Mr Demetriou said yesterday he did not disagree with the stance by Clubs Australia and that Mr Ball was entitled to campaign against the government’s plans.

“I only told him to shut up in relation to talking about the AFL because he’s absolutely quite right and within his rights to talk about Clubs Australia,” he said.

He said Communities Services Minister Jenny Macklin had taken some “licence” yesterday by congratulating him for opposing Clubs Australia’s “$20 million scare campaign”.

He reaffirmed the AFL was opposed to mandatory precommitment technology, saying it had the potential to cost jobs.

“I think Jenny took a bit of licence because what I was actually saying was, I would have preferred that we were consulted about being part of a campaign. But I made it very clear that we don’t support this legislation because of what it has the potential to do to our clubs.”

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