Yesterday in NSW Parliament, television personality Eddie McGuire was officially declared a “continual boofhead” by the Upper House.
The reason? His latest attack on AFL star Adam Goodes’. Goodes had incurred Eddie’s wrath after performing a victory ‘war dance’ at sections of the Carlton crowd, while celebrating a goal during the Indigenous round of the AFL in Sydney last week.
The motion, moved by Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham and subsequently passed read:
This House condemns Mr Eddie Macguire [sic], the President of the Collingwood Football Club, for:
(a) his comment that "This is a made-up dance, this is not something that has been going on for years", and
(b) being a continual boofhead.
As the pollies themselves say, Hear Hear!
But where did the term ‘boofhead come from. Our very own cartoonist, Lindsay Foyle, explains:
R. B. Clark, or Bob Clark was born in 1910. He became a draughtsman before creating comic strip 'Boofhead', that originally ran daily in Sydney's Daily Mirror from 1941 until its creator's death in 1970. It also ran in other Australian cities.
There were at least 30 Best of Boofhead annuals from 1957 to 1962 and Invincible Press published a number of Boofhead comic books between 1945 and 1962.
Boofhead was simplistically drawn featuring a man in a waistcoat with an elongated nose and a cantilever hairstyle.
Writing in the Sun-Herald in November 1979, Mike Gibson claimed Clark’s graphic style was static and it is often written that he asked management for permission to take drawing lessons to attain more fluidity.
These requests were refused, as 'Boofhead’ was popular as he was.
There have been claims that both Kerry Packer and Rupert Murdoch were nicknamed Boofhead at school.
There may be no truth in these rumours and Murdoch did not seem to be bothered by the comic as he kept it going after taking over the Daily Mirror in 1960.
The popularity of the Boofhead led to the erection of a 4.5-meter statue of 'Boofhead’ by NSW politician Clive Evatt at his property at Leura in the Blue Mountains.
The comic strip Boofhead was the inspiration behind the popular nickname "boofhead", which means a bit silly, clumsy or foolish.
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