Kochie called out over "disgusting" remarks
<p>Port Adelaide president David Koch has come under fire over remarks he made while discussing Jeremy Finlayson's homophobic slur towards another player. </p>
<p>Finlayson is under AFL investigation after he admitted to aiming a homophobic slur at an Essendon player on Fridayâs game at Adelaide Oval.</p>
<p>The player Finlayson directed the comment towards is not yet known, but on Saturday night, Port Adelaide confirmed that a âcontrite Finlayson made the club aware during the three-quarter time breakâ of the incident âand apologised to the victim on the field after the final siren last nightâ. </p>
<p>On Sunday morning, Koch appeared on <em>ABCâs Offsiders</em> to discuss the incident with host Kelli Underwood, veteran journalist Caroline Wilson and AFL footy boss Laura Kane. </p>
<p>âThereâs no excuse for it. Jeremy was incredibly remorseful, actually told the coaches at three-quarter time that it was inexcusable, went and apologised to the player after the game,â Koch said. </p>
<p>âThatâs no excuse whatsoever. Itâs in the heat of the battle, should not have done it and weâll wait for the AFL to go through its process.â</p>
<p>When discussing what sort of punishment the league could hand down to Finlayson, footy boss Kane questioned whether it may be similar to Taylor Walker's six-week ban after he used a racial slur. </p>
<p>But Kochie wasn't on board with linking the two incidents, and said that the the league had set a precedent with the ruling it handed down to North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson.</p>
<p>âNot ruling it out (an internal investigation), but, umm, you know, if you look at comparisons and benchmarks that have been set,â Koch said.</p>
<p>âWith a 55-year-old coach premeditated, target the player, walk up to them is very different to a player in the heat of battle when there was a lot of niggle in the game, the pressure again - absolutely no excuse, not condoning it whatever, and should not be part of the game, but if youâre going to look at a comparison, that would be the benchmark there.â</p>
<p><em style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">ABCâs Offsiders</em><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;"> host </span>Underwood pressed further and asked him: <span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">âIf </span><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">I put it to you, itâs in the same category as Taylor Walkerâs racial slur, what would your response to that be?â</span></p>
<p>Koch responded: âI donât think thatâs realistic. I think the benchmark has been set in terms of...â</p>
<p>Wilson interjected: âWith Alistair Clarkson which I thought was too light." </p>
<p>But Koch insisted: âOK. But the benchmark has been set.â</p>
<p>The comments from the former Sunrise presenter was slammed on social media. </p>
<p>âThis is pretty disgusting from Koch," wrote Columnist Greg Jericho. </p>
<p>âYeah nah @kochie_online. A slur is a slur is a slur. You say you donât condone a player using a homophobic slur on the field and that thereâs no excuse but in the same sentence practically excuse it by saying it occurred âin the heat of battleâ and a âniggleâ. So disappointing," another user wrote. </p>
<p>âTerrible take from Koch. We are benchmarking abuse now. Not making excuses but ⊠homophobia and racism have no place in the game," a third added. </p>
<p>â@kochie_online as a leader of our football club this statement is beyond disappointing. A slur against a marginalised group is exactly the same the nature of it is irrelevant. You need to do better!â a fourth commented. </p>
<p><em>Images: Getty/ ABC</em></p>