A Collingwood fan who threw the ball away from Essendon’s Kyle Langford during the AFL’s blockbuster Anzac Day match is unapologetic, saying it was simple gamesmanship designed to help his beloved Magpies.
Diehard Magpies fan Josh Hodgson said he caught the football without thinking when it went over the fence after a free kick was paid to Essendon inside its attacking 50 at the MCG on Tuesday.
‘He looked at me, I looked at him’: Anatomy of the Anzac Day match taunt.Credit: Fox Footy
“It was a bit of a shit free kick, but anyway it got paid,” Hodgson said. “[Langford] sort of looked at me and I looked at him, and I wasn’t going to give it back to him. I was going to wait for the Collingwood boys to get back.
“Then he came over, so I was waiting for him. I don’t know what happened. I sort of just threw it away from him and said ‘have this’. [I was] spewing he kicked it.”
“[Langford] sort of looked at me and I looked at him, and I wasn’t going to give it back to him.”
Josh Hodgson, Magpies fan
Hodgson, a Collingwood member from Ringwood who tries to attend every home and away game, also gestured “up yours” to Langford after he threw the ball away. He said he was partly trying to get into Essendon’s leading goalkicker’s head, but conceded it didn’t work.
Collingwood supporter Josh Hodgson.Credit: Simon Schluter
“It was a good kick. Credit to him,” he said.
Hodgson, 22, also said he was trying to get the crowd into the match, and he liked Langford giving it back by pointing at him and celebrating the goal after the incident.
The incident prompted a flood of chatter on social media, with some critical of his impromptu actions. Hodgson said he had seen some of the comments but “couldn’t give a rat’s arse”.
“I love the black and white boys,” he said. “I don’t think what I did was rude or anything – it’s all part of the game. People can say what they want, but it doesn’t really bother me.”
“I don’t think what I did was rude or anything – it’s all part of the game.”
Josh Hodgson, Magpies fan
Despite Langford’s boundary line goal and the Bombers pulling away to a 28-point three-quarter time lead, Collingwood stormed back in the last quarter to win a classic Anzac Day match in front of a record crowd.
Hodgson said he never gave up on the Magpies, and was “going nuts” after the final siren.
“The last laugh is whoever wins. Just because you kick a goal in a second quarter, and it puts you up, and you get the crowd into it, it doesn’t mean you’ve won the game,” he said.
“He would’ve had the laugh between us, but I would’ve had the last laugh for sure.”
Hodgson is a passionate Collingwood fan but didn’t play football growing up. Instead, he has a basketball background but only plays socially after injuring his knee.
He still rates the Bombers as a “good young team” but said he hated every other AFL club except the Magpies – who now sit second on the AFL ladder after their remarkable victory.
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