Former Hawthorn captain Shane Crawford has reflected on the infamous Footy Show moment when dacked Sam Newman on live television.
In 2001, Newman appeared on the weekly program wearing a Fremantle jumper after losing a bet in the previous episode.
The Geelong great had agreed to have his shorts pulled down on live television, however, Crawford took it one step further and exposed Newman's bottom half in a stunt that was met with serious backlash from the public.
Speaking with Edie McGuire and Newman on the Wide World of Sports' Long Story Short,ย Crawford revealed that he thought he would be stripped of the captaincy and relieved of his Channel Nine duties.
"It was a disaster," Crawford said.
"I'm thinking I've lost the captaincy of Hawthorn, I've lost my job at Channel Nine, and to look over and see Eddie McGuire rolling on the ground, I knew I'm in massive trouble here, I've really done the wrong thing.
"I was in total shock, I really was. I knew from your reaction, Ed, that it was way over the line and from Sam's point of view, Sam was like, 'Do you know what? If you're ever going to do anything like that, you need to tell me', but as we've done on The Footy Show, we just go with the flow."
The 1999 Brownlow medallist said the show received hundreds of complaints via fax, but was actually told to "keep having fun on TV" without taking it that far again.
"I thought I was going to be kicked out of Channel Nine because a lot of complaints had come through," he said.
"Back then, they used to fax them through and we had hundreds and hundreds and that's when we knew we had a good show, when there was lots of complaints.
"I know at the time (Eddie) was a bit uncertain as well, but then the next day when we all came together to talk about it, it was like keep up the good work, don't do that again, but keep having fun on the TV and Sam keep your pants on.
"I remember Sam you did cop all the blame in the media everyone said you're at it again when really it wasn't your fault."
Newman recounted his shock in the moment and how badly vilified he was in the narrative that followed.
"I remember (Crawford) leaning over and pulling my nicks down and I thought there's no way on live TV in front of a studio audience and people watching around the nation that you'd pull my jocks off. How wrong can you be?" he said.
"At the time someone said why didn't you put your hands across your genitals, I said well in the one or two seconds you get to think about what has actually gone on, it's a bit late for the time you get your hands across your genitals, so you live with it.
"I got called into the office at Nine and I was asked to explain and I asked, 'Are you blaming me for this?'
"I think Shane vaguely got off scot-free, I had to front the media about why I was exposing myself on television."
