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| I ASKED FOR NO ANCHOVIES ON MY PIZZA! (or is this REALLY cheese in my crust?) |
(Written by Kraig Krieger)
(Pictures by Ian Baker, John Casamento & Jeff Hook)
As the former host of ‘The Footy Show’, Eddie McGuire, used to say, “It’s been a huge week in Football”, but for readers of the Melbourne ‘Herald-Sun’, Wednesday 10th October 1990 was a huge day in Football.
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All of the headlines on the back page would have guaranteed big sales of the paper in Footy-mad Melbourne.
‘SHAW SNARES MAGPIE MEDAL’ told us how popular Collingwood premiership Captain Tony Shaw won his second ‘Copeland Trophy by just 3 votes from Darren Millane.
‘CROWS COMING’ announced the arrival of the Adelaide Crows after the South Australian National Football League signed an agreement with the A.F.L. the previous day. This agreement was conditional upon the SANFL, Glenelg FC, Norwood FC, West Torrens FC and South Adelaide FC withdrawing legal action against Port Adelaide FC at 2:15 pm that day.
‘BT: MY SADDEST DAY IN FOOTBALL’ was an extract from ‘The B.T. Diaries’, the controversial book written by retired Collingwood century goal-kicker Brian ‘Barge’ Taylor explaining his feelings during his final training session with the Magpies on the Thursday preceding the Grand Final.
A ‘Stop Press’ item announced that the AFL investigator, Bob Stewart would be interviewing photographers who attended the Grand Final regarding the Grand Final quarter-time brawl.
Add to that articles about Darren Millane (Collingwood), Mark Hepburn (North Melbourne), Melbourne FC, Richmond FC, the Victorian Football Development Foundation, Tony Liberatore (Footscray) Roger Merrett (Brisbane & Essendon), a round-by-round listing of all the votes awarded in the Copeland Trophy and stories about Brunswick/Broadmeadows FC & Camberwell FC in the VFA provided a feast of footy reading for supporters.
But the biggest story was reserved for the front page…
‘ABLETT ATTACK: PIZZA MAN TELLS’
The man they called ‘God’ was, at least back then, better known for his miraculous feats on the footy ground and honesty at the tribunal than the off-field incidents that would haunt him throughout his life after retiring from the game after the 1997 season.
Ablett was simply magnificent. 100 times more spectacular than his two champion sons, Gary Jnr. and Nathan. His Norm Smith Medal winning performance in the 1989 Grand Final was one of the best individual games ever seen in the history of the VFL/AFL. Nine goals in a losing team is a pretty special effort, and the way he went about kicking them was incredible.
He was tough too. He gave a lot on the field and copped heaps more. But unlike others (we won’t mention names, but Greg Williams springs to mind!) he didn’t sook. Even when Craig ‘Cementhead’ Kelly was pulling hairs on the back of his legs.
Nearly all footy fans admired the man who Rex Hunt called ‘YAAAAAAABBBBBBBLLLLLLLLEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!’. He was just a pleasure to watch. A born-again Christian, his public acknowledgement of his faith and the influence of God in his life during his acceptance speech for the Norm Smith Medal was criticized by some but admired by many more as was his statement that he wasn’t prepared to lie or compromise the truth in his relationship with God over an incident involving Melbourne’s Garry Lyon in 1989 in which he pleaded guilty.
Controversy seemed to follow Ablett after he retired. His involvement in the drug overdose of a fan, Alicia Horan, in his motel room in 2000 lost him a lot of admirers when he admitted to providing her with heroin and other drugs. He was subsequently charged with four drug offences and fined $1500.
In 2006 he was allegedly attacked at a car yard in South Geelong by Vyasa Ofthesea. Ofthesea was charged with the assault, but was reported to have committed suicide the day before his trial by jumping from a Melbourne high rise apartment block.
But of all the incidents that he was involved with, his attack on the owner of the ‘Surfcoast Pizza’ shop, Tony Giuffre, was the one that most people felt sorry for him about.
Ablett, who pleaded guilty to intentionally causing injury and criminal damage, thumped Giuffre several times and gave him a broken nose after he discovered Giuffre, and his estranged wife Sue, together in the back seat of of a car. He then rammed the car with his 4WD causing more than $3850 worth of damage.
Ablett had earlier finished training and went to visit Sue and his children when he recognized a car in the driveway as belonging to Giuffre. After punching Giuffre, Ablett dragged him from the car before he rammed it. He then punched Giuffre until Giuffre ran down Torquay Boulevard.
Ablett, who almost immediately paid for the car repairs, was placed on a $10,000 one-year good behavior bond by Magistrate Jack Tobin.
So what made the great man snap?
Counsel for Ablett, Mr. Brian Burke, said that his client had been upset to find his wife sitting in the back seat with Giuffre, and that the incident was in essence a domestic situation which had caused great concern to Ablett who was distraught at having to appear in court.
Sue Ablett, who had been separated from Ablett since January in 1988, was a part-time employee at the pizza shop.
After the attack rumors abounded throughout the community that Ablett had caught Giuffre and Sue performing sexual acts in the car, but Giuffre denied the rumors. “Nothing happened during the actual incident. We were just talking.” Giuffre said. “I’ve nothing to hide.”
Giuffre said that he delivered a pizza to Mrs. Ablett at her Jan Juc home. When asked why they were sitting in the back seat of his car he replied “Sue doesn’t like smoking in her house, so we sat in the car.” He said it was ‘in the heat of the moment” that they decided to sit in the back seat.
But there were even more questions asked by footy fans after the court case. Why didn’t they just stand at the front door and have a smoke? Why would Mrs. Ablett have a problem smoking in the house, but no problem smoking in a car that was used for delivering pizzas? Wouldn’t it be deemed unhealthy and unhygienic by normal standards? What was the ‘heat of the moment’ described by Giuffre, or was that too hot too mention in the court? As one wag suggested to us at AustralianRulesFootball.com.au, maybe Ablett discovered that there was unwanted Anchovies on the pizza, or even a stuffed cheesy crust.
Another strange fact emerged from the court case with Giuffre saying that it was his wife who made the complaint to the Police about the attack, not him, and that he wanted to withdraw the charges. Most fans said that if someone had started thumping them, broke their nose & rammed their car for no reason, then they would have been pushing for a re-introduction of the Death Penalty!
Instead Giuffre stated that “I hold nothing against Gary. He’s still my idol and a champion footballer.”
Strange, but true!
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Posted on Nov 06, 2010 21:52pm by admin
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