Geelong Bans Mad Monday Events After Bailey Smith’s Homophobic Posts Slammed

The Geelong Football Club has confirmed it will scrap Mad Monday events in their current form, after former AFL player Mitch Brown publicly condemned a homophobic reference made by Bailey Smith during the team’s post-season celebrations.

Following Geelong’s Grand Final loss, images and videos from the club’s Mad Monday event were shared widely on social media.

Players turned up in costumes, with Bailey Smith arriving dressed as Tristan Ludlow — Brad Pitt’s character in Legends of the Fall.

A post from Smith showed him and team captain, Patrick Dangerfield dressed as a cowboy from the TV show Yellowstone.

“Or brokeback mountain depends how ya look at it,” Smith captioned a photo of the pair recreating a pose from Brokeback Mountain. Underneath, a second caption read, “this is what losing a granny does to ya. Alright phone away now bye”.

The film, a landmark queer love story, has long been used in popular culture as shorthand for mocking men, using homophobic undertones.

Mitch Brown’s calls out Bailey Smith & Geelong

Former West Coast Eagles player Mitch Brown, who came out as bisexual earlier this year, publicly condemned the post.

“Last time I checked, losing a grand final doesn’t make you gay, but being homophobic definitely makes you a loser,” he said.

Geelong responds to homophobic posts

Geelong is known for being the ‘top club’ when it comes to Mad Monday celebrations.

Kane Cornes also criticised various players’ behaviour at this year’s event this year, saying on SEN he “thought that was one of the more embarrassing days at the Geelong Footy Club that I’ve seen in a while”.

“Now, this isn’t new. They’ve owned this space for a long, long period of time. But at some point in time with the issues that there has been in and around dress-ups, clubs have just got to say, hey, you know what? It’s not book week. We’re not in year five.

“Let’s just turn up in a shirt and some jeans and have a good day, a few quiet beers, and celebrate a grand final loss where we got smashed in the second half because we don’t need to dress up and make ourselves look like fools.

Geelong addressed the various controversies in a statement released on Wednesday.

“Geelong Football Club sincerely apologises for the offence caused following our end of season gathering on Monday.

“Certain costumes and associated social media posts were inappropriate and a significant error of judgment, and do not reflect our Team of All commitment.” 

The club confirmed immediate changes to its post-season traditions. “The Club has decided future post season events will not continue in this current form, and we will take this moment to further educate our people on expectations and Club and community standards.”