Herald Sun journalist Jay Clark has put speculation to bed over an “altercation” he had with longtime colleague Jon Ralph, insisting “nothing happened” between the pair.
Veteran AFL journalist Damien Barrett first publicly aired rumours about tension between Herald Sun colleagues jostling for the position of chief football reporter, which has recently been made vacant by Mark Robinson, on The Sounding Board.
Barrett said the rising tensions boiled over in an incident that dates back to last October.
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“It’s fair to say there is some internal friction associated with the vacancy in that position,” he said on The Sounding Board last month.
“I’ll let you speculate on whose names may be there from an internal perspective.”
Initial suggestions that a disagreement may have taken place at Robinson’s farewell night from the Herald Sun were soon clarified, with the truth emerging that it actually happened at a Fox Footy end-of-season celebration.
On February 14, Kane Cornes did a satirical ‘investigation’ into the incident on SEN, but followed the parody impersonation of ABC’s Four Corners show with some genuine questions for Fox Footy commentator David King, who was there with Ralph and Clark to witness it happen.
King said there was an “altercation”, later confirming it was between Clark and Ralph.
David King works with both Jay Clark and Jon Ralph at Fox Footy. Credit: Michael Dodge/Getty Images “You know when you see two guys getting into an altercation and you think, this would be the poorest fight you’ve seen in a long time — it wouldn’t even be a spectacle — you just have to stop it,” King said on SEN in mid-February.
King watered down suggestions he had to “step in” to break the pair up.
“’Step in’ is a bit strong. Initially, I would have egged them on,” he laughed, before admitting the tension did exist.
“I think there is some genuine, good, healthy tension between the two of them. I think that’s fair in the workplace; I think it’s OK to have opposing views in life.
“The bottom line is: I saved Ralphy from yet another creaming; he would have been destroyed. I don’t think Ralphy’s a fighter.”
King later walked back his “altercation” comment, adding that he didn’t know whether the topic of Robinson’s successor was the source of the friction.
“I don’t know what it was about, I really don’t know what it was about,” he said.
“Nothing happened, I don’t even think it was a big deal.
“It was just two blokes who, in my opinion, don’t look overly masculine, trying to carry on like these big alpha males, and I said, ‘Hey, hey, boys, relax’.
“Can’t you have a different view on the world, and still get along?”
Speaking for the first time since speculation began circling, Clark put the rumours to bed on Thursday, adamant there was nothing to be seen.
Asked on Triple M if he and Ralph were separated, Clark said: “We certainly weren’t, so this is going to be a great disappointment to everyone.
“We did have a shindig up there at Bells Hotel for our end-of-season Fox Footy night back in October.
“What we desperately need is the CCTV vision because it would show that in fact nothing happened. We had a cordial conversation.
“Wouldn’t it have been the worst fight of all time? Two dorky journalists.
“We need a secret tape of the night because nothing happened.”
Clark admitted that he did enjoy Cornes’s satirical imitation of the ABC’s weekly investigative show.
“It was very funny. There has been a lot of mirth taken,” he said.