Five-year ban for Collingwood member responsible for vile threat against Carlton coach Michael Voss
While the vile message, left on the MCG anti-social behaviour hotline during last Friday's night clash against the Magpies was not treated as a credible threat, it was enough for the MCG security team to pass it on.
Voss said he 'dismissed it' at first but then decided it was something that couldn't be tolerated and he hoped for an expected 'forthright response'.
After an AFL investigation, that response was confirmed on Thursday afternoon in a statement from the AFL and then Collingwood, which has issued a similar ban after it was revealed a Magpies member was the perpetrator.
Head of AFL integrity and security Tony Keane said no coach, player, official, staff member or fan should feel unsafe at a game.
'The anti-social hotline at venues is designed to ensure everyone attending the match can do so in a safe and inclusive manner, and the majority of times this service is used appropriately,' he said.
 'We understand there is passion in the game; however, the text message in question sent to the MCG hotline on Friday crossed the line.
'Regardless of the intent, no coach, player, official, staff member or fan deserves to be threatened in such a way, and now that patron has lost the privilege of attending the footy.'
Collingwood also condemned the actions of its club member.
'The club is very disappointed by the member's actions which have resulted in a five-year ban from both the MCG and AFL – Collingwood will follow suit,' a statement said. 'Collingwood will not tolerate any threats to officials, supporters or individuals involved in our great game – such conduct is unacceptable and not representative of the club or its values.'
We support the sanction issued to a Club Member following their misuse of the MCG’s anti-social behaviour hotline during the Round 17 match against Carlton.
More: https://t.co/WBXkFCNhD7 pic.twitter.com/GwSJ20jFsL
— Collingwood FC (@CollingwoodFC) July 10, 2025
Voss delivered a passionate response on Wednesday morning when asked about the threat, declaring the 'passion' of fans shouldn't be about anger.
He said he still saw that hope in some supporters – the ones he coached for – but had no time for the 'the dark side of football'.
'It (that first football) sort of really inspired me to ultimately follow my dreams … then I have also seen the dark side of football as well, where we blame, we become victims,' he said.
'This environment where it's quite toxic and we think by showing passion is about anger, it's not about that at all. When you see both, it's what you choose for me.
'When I turn up … I look at that four-year-old and think about what families are and communities and how we bring people together and what we want our environment to be. '
'There's a way we need to behave, there's a way we need to go about it, and when things are tough, you've got to show that support the right way, not the wrong way.
'If that's a measure for some people on what it should look like, then I am sorry you don't belong here.'
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You spoke with a 26-year-old man, Jefferson, and he knows exactly how this happens because he used to be just like this. Tell me about that. Siobhan Marin: Yeah, exactly. Jefferson opened up about his own experience as a teenager. He felt super self-conscious, as a lot of teens do, and he found himself looking online for advice. Jefferson: Like how to talk to girls, how to be desirable, how to make people want you and stuff like that. And you find these male influencers who say that they do want to help. Siobhan Marin: And sometimes the advice can be helpful initially, like eat healthy, clean your room, go to the gym. But then soon the algorithm starts changing and you get sent different messages. Jefferson: And it goes down those rabbit holes and it starts going into like, it's not your fault. It's like it's other people's fault. It's society's fault. It's women's fault. And then it's also your own fault, because if women don't want you, then it's because you're a beta, you're not manly enough. You're too much of a nice guy. Siobhan Marin: Jefferson said it really started shifting his views about women and his relationships with women. He was just seeing them as opportunities to have a romantic partnership and not just, you know, recognising them as a human or a potential friendship. Sydney Pead: And you've also been speaking with a youth educator, Daniel Principe. He spends a lot of time with teens and he's not surprised that we're seeing what's happening online exported into the classroom, right? Siobhan Marin: Yeah, exactly. So Daniel's work is really important because he's going into schools and he's sort of saying, hey, boys, are you being served this content? Daniel Principe, youth educator: Who has seen something on socials where a man or a group of men are telling a woman or a group of women, get back in the kitchen, go make me a sandwich. Who's seen that in their social media? Siobhan Marin: They all put their hands up. You know, the year eights, the year 11s and 12s that I got to film with. They're seeing really problematic stuff. They're not necessarily searching for it. And yeah, sometimes some of the kids might be like, oh, it's just a laugh or, you know, I know it's stupid, but there are other boys that it might implant in them in a different way. Research around the world has shown that if you log onto a social media site as a teenager, you're quite likely to be sent problematic content, you know, quickly. Daniel Principe, youth educator: I don't think we should be surprised if these attitudes then leak out in what some boys do, because that is the diet that they've been served up. These toxic voices who sadly the algorithms obviously send more content to. Siobhan Marin: And the problem there is that adults and parents aren't seeing the same content because we're not being delivered that same algorithm. These billion and trillion dollar industries, big tech, are weaponising this content and targeting young men, teenage boys, because they can make money off it. They can grab their attention, keep them there for longer, send them down a rabbit hole and ultimately profit. And it's an issue that's obviously playing out across the world where we're seeing it spoken about a lot from the e-safety commissioner here in Australia. But I think many governments and societies don't know what to do, don't know how to rein in big tech in this regard. And we can't necessarily blame them for being given all of this material, being bombarded with problematic narratives about masculinity and the opposite sex. But obviously we want parents and societies and schools and politicians to be providing a safety net and critical media literacy so that when the boys do see this type of content, they can straight away think, oh, well, I know that this is just stupid and they're trying to weaponise beliefs and profit off of me. Sydney Pead: Teenage boys in particular can be so vulnerable to this kind of thing because, as you say, if they're suffering from low self-esteem or, you know, they're looking for guidance, they're really susceptible to this sort of messaging. Siobhan Marin: Exactly. Exactly. And it's such a complex issue. Sarah, the high school student that we spoke to, makes the point that, yeah, when it comes to gender-based violence or discrimination, it's not all men, but it's enough men. And so we need to focus on who are overwhelmingly vulnerable. Overwhelmingly the victims, which is women. But then also, you know, there are another perspective that we cannot alienate boys and make them feel bad about masculinity. Not the problematic aspects that they might be sold on social media, but masculinity in general. We can't make them feel bad about that because if we do, we risk them going further into the manosphere and looking for that validation that these really toxic content creators are offering to teenage boys and young men. Sydney Pead: Well, Jefferson, who we heard from, he managed to pull himself out of this rabbit hole. So how did he do that? Siobhan Marin: For Jefferson, it was his sister who played a really big role. Thankfully, they had a close relationship and he was talking to her about relationships and why don't these girls like me and maybe I need to be less of a nice guy. And his sister just said blatantly, that's dumb. Jefferson: She would just catch me saying really stupid shit. Like if I spewed back the talking points that I was given, she wouldn't give ground, essentially. I'd used to go to her for dating advice, I guess. And I'd say things like, maybe I should just be a little more mean. It's just like, what are you talking about? Siobhan Marin: And so he started having this unravelling of such beliefs. And in the process, you know, it came around to see that these content creators who were spreading misogynistic sort of stuff were making him feel terrible. This misogynistic movement online is filled with hate. That's how it flourishes through telling young boys that they've got a clear enemy, which is women and society at large. Jefferson: You have a lot of people out there who probably love you. A lot of people out there who probably want to see you become a better person. And hate's just not the way. Hate's just not the way to do it. Sydney Pead: Okay. So Siobhan, after all your conversations, what is your message to parents? What do they need to understand about what their children are going through and how hard it is to stop this cycle? Siobhan Marin: Oh, it was really sobering. I think it's just checking in on your kids and having a frank dialogue and saying, look, I'm not here to judge you. I just want to know what you're seeing online, what you're exposed to and what sort of messages your friends are saying in the schoolyard as well. Do you hear these kind of things? Do you hear misogynistic jokes or rape jokes? And how do they make you feel? I think the kids need these multiple touch points and reminders of how they can navigate this complex world that they didn't be asked to be born into. They didn't ask for social media to have such dominance in their lives. Perhaps things will change with the social media ban, but we know that kids are very resourceful. It's not a simple answer. And I think big tech has a lot of responsibility to carry. But, you know, it's going to be human to human interaction that really supports boys and girls in dealing with this sort of content and the ideology that is spreading. Sydney Pead: Siobhan Marin is a presenter on Compass and host of the Quick Smart podcast. You can watch her Compass episode on ABC iView. This episode was produced by Kara Jensen-Mackinnon and Adair Sheppard. Audio production by Sam Dunn. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sydney Pead. ABC News Daily will be back again tomorrow. Thanks for listening.
