Just days after he was filmed in a heated altercation outside a Melbourne pub, former North Melbourne champion Wayne Carey has been cancelled from a football club’s fundraising event.
Carey was set to appear at the Barwon Heads Football and Netball Club’s president’s lunch with his mate and fellow podcaster Sam Newman, but the club’s committee has reportedly had a sudden change of heart.
The Herald Sun reported that “there was considerable community backlash” when it became public that Carey and Newman — who both have a history of controversy — were invited
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today
And a club spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that they had “decided to go in a different direction”.
On Thursday, Carey, 54, was captured on film tussling with one man in a physical exchange that spilled out onto the streets outside the Albert Park Hotel in Melbourne.
In the video, the champion AFL goalkicker and ex-commentator can be seen grabbing at the man’s shirt before another man yells out, “Wayne, Wayne, relax”.
Newman — himself a former star footballer for Geelong — said he did not care that he had been cancelled.
“Some people thought it was not a good idea so they cancelled it, which makes no difference to Wayne and I,” Newman said.
“It does not worry me and it does not worry Wayne, I am sure.
“These people in good faith asked us to come and then some people get a little anxious about who is appearing and they have every right to withdraw the invitation.
“It is pretty weak of a committee to have the tail wag the dog when I can assure you that the response they got about Wayne coming down, and me, was overwhelming. But the tail wags the dog and in this world we live in intelligent people are being silenced so that stupid people won’t feel offended.”
Carey’s incident last week was the latest in a string of controversies littered throughout his life since his playing days.
In 2022, Carey was cleared of any wrongdoing after having a bag of white powder spill out of his pocket at Crown Casino in Perth. He insisted the bag contained crushed-up anti-inflammatory medication.
His most infamous controversy was the extramarital affair he had with Kelli Stevens, the wife of former teammate Anthony Stevens, in 2002.
The Barwon Heads Football and Netball Club’s president’s lunch is at the Barwon Heads Hotel on June 21.