International Rules: The previously unnamed senior Australian Rules player who sent a damning email to a radio station about the Australians' roughhouse tactics during last year's International Rules series has been revealed as the Hawthorn veteran Peter Everitt.
The 6ft 8in ruckman - who today plays his 250th NFL game, against West Coast - confirmed to yesterday's edition of the Australian newspaper the Age that he was the author of the stunning diatribe aimed at his AFL peers - which was sent to the Melbourne radio station SEN after the infamous second Test at the MCG.
That game nearly ended the annual series, such was the fury here about Ireland's treatment at the hands of the home team - which included Australian captain Chris Johnson striking Tyrone's Philip Jordan and Wexford's Matty Forde.
Everitt - who represented Australia in the 1998 series, held in Ireland - wrote an email expressing his disgust at the Australian tactics, claiming his compatriots "suddenly (grew) balls against an opposition who are not used to physical violence".
He singled out Johnson, coach Kevin Sheedy - who, Everitt said, had lost his respect - and even Hawthorn team-mate Trent Croad, for his lack of respect in pushing an official during a fracas.
Yesterday, the 32-year-old Everitt recalled the anger he felt watching the match.
"I felt embarrassed for our guys, because they went out and tried to intimidate them, yet half the guys who were playing wouldn't even think twice about doing it in our game to the likes of Barry Hall or Jonathan Brown and those kinds of blokes," Everitt said.
"As a player, I was sitting there thinking, 'here they are on an international stage trying to prove how tough they are, yet on the local stage half of them are as weak as piss'.
"I remember just turning it off and thinking, 'why do we need to do that?' I thought they really showed a lot of disrespect to the Irish and the game and the series.
"It brought embarrassment to nearly every AFL player. That was my thought behind it (the email)."
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