- Banned
- #1
> AFL
> Monday 25 June, 2001
>
> Essendon skipper James Hird has broken a two week silence to reveal
> that a regulation bum tap that turned "ugly" has led to awkardness
> between himself and ruckman John Barnes.
>
> "Barnesy's a top man and all, but what happened on Friday night was
> weird", Hird said after training. "It's like when blokes brush hands
> in public it's just a little uncomfortable".
>
> Any speculation that it wasn't an accident was quickly disspelled by
> Barnes, who offered, "Hirdy had just kicked a goal [when] I ran over
> to give him a tap, [then] Saddo [Essendon's runner] gave me a
> message. I've yelled 'no worries' and I realised that I still had me
> hand on his bum".
>
> Kevin Sheedy weighed into the topic by offering Essendon's official
> line on the issue, "Nobody likes to see this sort of stuff going on,
> but every now and then at a footy club it's going to happen".
>
> When asked if he had spoken to either Hird or Barnes about the
> situation, Sheedy simply said, "Barnes knows what is expected from
> him and he's been practicing his taps in addition to regular
> training. It turns out it wasn't so much timing as technique".
>
> Barnes' former teammate at Geelong, Billy Brownless, said that Barnes
> had always had problems in that aspect of his game noting that "at
> Geelong if you kicked a goal you'd hope Barnesy was up the other end
> of the ground 'cause when he was excited you never knew how long his
> hand would stay there for".
>
> Despite claiming to feel "weird" Hird said there is no ill feeling
> between he and Barnes but he equated the situation with "kissing your
> sister, sure it feels nice but at the end of the day it's just wrong".
>
> Phillip Arthurson, President of the Tasmanian Football League was
> unavailable for comment on Hird's statement today.
>
> Monday 25 June, 2001
>
> Essendon skipper James Hird has broken a two week silence to reveal
> that a regulation bum tap that turned "ugly" has led to awkardness
> between himself and ruckman John Barnes.
>
> "Barnesy's a top man and all, but what happened on Friday night was
> weird", Hird said after training. "It's like when blokes brush hands
> in public it's just a little uncomfortable".
>
> Any speculation that it wasn't an accident was quickly disspelled by
> Barnes, who offered, "Hirdy had just kicked a goal [when] I ran over
> to give him a tap, [then] Saddo [Essendon's runner] gave me a
> message. I've yelled 'no worries' and I realised that I still had me
> hand on his bum".
>
> Kevin Sheedy weighed into the topic by offering Essendon's official
> line on the issue, "Nobody likes to see this sort of stuff going on,
> but every now and then at a footy club it's going to happen".
>
> When asked if he had spoken to either Hird or Barnes about the
> situation, Sheedy simply said, "Barnes knows what is expected from
> him and he's been practicing his taps in addition to regular
> training. It turns out it wasn't so much timing as technique".
>
> Barnes' former teammate at Geelong, Billy Brownless, said that Barnes
> had always had problems in that aspect of his game noting that "at
> Geelong if you kicked a goal you'd hope Barnesy was up the other end
> of the ground 'cause when he was excited you never knew how long his
> hand would stay there for".
>
> Despite claiming to feel "weird" Hird said there is no ill feeling
> between he and Barnes but he equated the situation with "kissing your
> sister, sure it feels nice but at the end of the day it's just wrong".
>
> Phillip Arthurson, President of the Tasmanian Football League was
> unavailable for comment on Hird's statement today.
>
