SAM’S HIGHS & LOWS
GEELONG legend turned television larrikin Sam Newman has always been headline magnet. So it’s no surprise the announcement of his all-but-confirmed departure from The Footy Show has sparked a similar whirlwind. It was fittingly just another in a long list of off-script acts by the 72-year-old that left Channel 9 publicity teams scrambling to keep up. A network spokesman maintained yesterday that no decision had been made about The Footy Show for 2019. It was the lack of commitment to the long-running show that prompted its founding father to say a pre-emptive farewell to loyal viewers who had embraced him, flaws and all. “I want to thank you very much for putting up with me or enjoying me,” he said during the 10minute monologue. “I’ve probably been the most criticised and traduced person in the media in Australia for probably two decades. I wouldn’t have it any other way because you are what you are, I know who I am, I know what I am.” What he is, is an entertainer. And by his own admission a divisive one. But there was a whole lifetime before he was welcomed into Aussie homes every Thursday night that’s often overlooked.
His upbringing was, by his own admission, “sheltered”.
The Geelong Grammar alumni attended the prestige school, where his father was a teacher, from kindergarten to senior school. Holidays were spent at a family-owned house in Point Lonsdale.
He was recruited to Geelong by the legendary Bob Davis, with whom he remained friends for almost 50 years.
It was he who nicknamed him Sam, after the bandmaster in the television show hosted by American comedian Jackie Gleason.
The talented ruckman went on to captain the side, play in finals, win two best-andfairests, achieve All Australian selection and clock up 300 games for the blue and white.
In the early years post-football he lost everything as a result of guaranteeing a loan for a partner in a transport company that went broke.
In his personal life the father of three — who has also battled prostate cancer — was run over by a former lover outside his home in 1997, punched
out by the plumber boyfriend of another former partner and married multiple times.
Controversy followed him early on. When indigenous footy star Nicky Winmar refused to appear on the program in 1999 Newman decided to “step in” and appear on set in blackface.
His genitalia has been exposed on two occasions; one when dacked by regular sparring buddy Shane Crawford in 2001 and another as he rolled off a hospital bed during one of his many cringeworthy skits.
In 2008 Newman lam- pooned football writer and TV presenter Caroline Wilson by stapling a cutout of her face on to a lingerie-clad mannequin, before dressing it up and then groping it.
The following year he was condemned by the Australian Communications and Media Authority for suggesting a Malaysian man was “not long out of the forest”.
In 2010 he was accused of disrespecting traditional owners by hitting a golf ball off Uluru. He also infamously responded to a move by the AFL to list marijuana as a banned game day substance for players in 2012 by lighting a large pipe, later revealed to contain tea.
Newman was accused of homophobia in 2014 when he called gay NFL draftee Michael Sam kissing his boyfriend an “annoyingly gratuitous act”.
Calls for him to resign resurfaced again last year following an insensitive comment about former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner who is transgender.
“I know who he … it is,” Newman said. “Oh well what is she? Is it a he or a she. Is it transgender, is it?”
And in the same season he took a conversation-starting swing at the AFL over its decision to fly the rainbow flag, suggesting the game and its organisers had no place in politics.
Former Footy Show co-star Rebecca Maddern, who joined the show as the first female panellist in 2016, has been an unlikely ally for the king of controversy.
The new mum took to Twitter last night to react to Newman’s announcement writing: “My great friend Sam Newman speaking from the heart
tonight. He IS The Footy Show. Some will find this hard to believe but he’s been my No.1 supporter from Day 1.”
Maddern previously said Newman’s perceived “ego”, fanned by the character he plays on the show, prevents people from remembering his stellar sporting career.
“I know it might seem unbelievable to some people, but Sam doesn’t really like to talk about himself and his achievements all that often,’’ she said.
“I think the fact is because he’s had this long and very successful TV career, people wrongly forget he was a 300game player for Geelong, he won two best-and-fairests, he is a Hall of Famer — he was a very, very good footballer.”
At the final siren of his last game for Geelong in 1980, Newman’s future was filled with boundless opportunities.
But as the credits roll on The Footy Show next week, the future of it’s founding father is unknown.
“I know it might seem unbelievable to some people, but Sam doesn’t really like to talk about himself and his achievements all that often.” REBECCA MADDERN, (PICTURED WITH NEWMAN AND EDDIE MCGUIRE)