A Historic Milestone and Controversial Payday
Scott Pendlebury, the 38-year-old Collingwood superstar, is set to make history next week when he becomes the all-time V/AFL games record holder. With a 433rd appearance against West Coast at the MCG, he will surpass North Melbourne legend Brent Harvey, cementing his place as the sport’s most prolific professional player.
While the AFL and Collingwood are expected to celebrate this milestone, there is growing tension among rival clubs over a financial aspect of the occasion. Leading reporter Damien Barrett has revealed that some clubs are questioning the AFL’s decision to allow Pendlebury to keep 100% of the profits from selling Collingwood jerseys featuring a gold No.10 on the back.
Pendlebury will wear a special guernsey during the game, with replicas available for sale to fans by both the club and the AFL. Typically, such merchandise would generate revenue for the club and the league, but in this case, the AFL has agreed to let Pendlebury keep the proceeds himself. Reports suggest he plans to donate a significant portion of the money to a children’s cancer foundation.
The AFL released a statement acknowledging the significance of the milestone, saying: “Scott breaking the all-time games record is an extraordinary milestone in the history of the competition, one that Collingwood and the AFL industry will appropriately acknowledge and celebrate. Any commercial arrangement between parties around the celebration remains confidential.”
On Nine’s Footy Classified, Barrett revealed that Pendlebury intends to wear multiple gold No.10 jerseys during the game, which he can later sell or auction off as match-worn jumpers. While no club has gone public with their concerns, Barrett claims many are unhappy about the potential for Pendlebury to profit significantly from the event.
“Scott will wear up to eight jumpers over the course of the game, possibly more, for his own keep reasons and for his own on-sell reasons,” Barrett said. “I know what clubs can be like when they talk privately compared to publicly… it’s a special exemption, and I reckon there will be some questions asked, at least internally, around what was this and is there a link at all to Scott Pendlebury’s wage from Collingwood this year, knowing that this moment was coming… and the special dispensation for him to make, I’d say at a minimum, $100,000 out of this.”
The money generated from the jerseys will be handed to Pendlebury outside his Collingwood contract, meaning it won’t count against the club’s salary cap. This has raised questions among rival clubs about whether Pendlebury accepted a lower salary in exchange for the potential bonus from his milestone game.
Fellow journalist Sam McClure noted that “clubs do get very prickly when they hear about money being earned outside the salary cap.” However, Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd defended the situation, arguing that too much negative attention is being placed on the historic occasion.
“I think too much is being made of it, in a negative way,” Lloyd said. “We should just be celebrating this. Whether he wears gold, he is an absolutely professional, Collingwood is a big club, and this is something we will probably never see again.”
Despite the controversy, Collingwood has controversially rested Pendlebury for this week’s game against ladder-leading Sydney, ensuring he is available for the record-breaking match against the lowly Eagles in round 11.
