Eddie McGuire

Sydney Swans coach John Longmire isn't alone in being "staggered" by Eddie McGuire suggesting on Triple M Melbourne on Wednesday that perhaps Swans star Adam Goodes should be used to promote King Kong. I'm joining your club, Horse. It was, and still is, a staggering moment.

Shame on you, Eddie. Shame. On. You. Your "slip of the tongue" has become the most talked about sports story in Australia this year, and everything you did on Friday night in the wake of the unfortunate incident where a teenage Collingwood fan called Adam Goodes an "ape" has been for naught. On Friday night, The face of racism was a thirteen-year-old girl. Now, the as we inch towards another Friday night, the face of racism is undoubtedly Australia's most recognisable broadcaster.

I tend to believe McGuire when he says that he isn't a racist, purely and simply because of the look of honest anger that we all saw on Friday night when he stormed into the Sydney rooms, determined to apologise to Adam Goodes after vision of the Collingwood fan being escorted from the ground after taunting the Swans superstar, who was in the process of playing the game of his life, torching Collingwood at the MCG. That wasn't just lip service and it wasn't just for the cameras. Eddie was genuinely distressed.

What Wednesday morning was...well, stupid is a good word to start. Confounding, embarrassing, unthinkable. You have to wonder exactly what Eddie was thinking when he started down the road that had landed him in so much hot water. You could tell that Luke Darcy knew that something was wrong, when he jumped in with, "I wouldn't have thought so," to McGuire's proposition that the Melbourne production of King Kong, who had hung a giant claw from the Eureka Tower, use Adam Goodes to promote the show.

Now Eddie is in the centre of a storm that won't die down anytime soon. Even Harry O'Brien, a Collingwood player, lashed out on Twitter, with some strong words that were backed up by others, including Daniel Wells and Nic Naitanui, throughout the day. It was universal condemnation, of casual racism in Australia and of one man's stupidity, so many around the footy community inclined to believe that McGuire was careless and silly rather than intending to racially vilify anyone. Regardless, it will take a long time for McGuire to escape the shadow of this gaffe. As it should be, and good on the AFL for insisting that Eddie be treated like any other member of it's league. The counseling and community work might encourage Ed to think twice the next time.

They say that Goodes was hurt more by Eddie's comments than by what the girl on Friday said, and for good reason, too. Where the teenager might not have known - and, by all accounts, didn't - know the ramifications of what she was saying, Eddie is well and truly aware. After his work in the Swans dressing room last week, and at other times throughout the weekend, these comments surely can only made the betrayal Adam Goodes must be feeling right now ten times as worse. 

Saturday afternoon and Sydney's clash with Essendon probably can't come quickly enough for No. 37.