The Brisbane Lions have cleared up Mitch Robinson’s claim he was denied entry to his old club’s dressing rooms on Saturday night.
Robinson, celebrated for his reputation as an old-fashioned “hard nut” footballer, has since deleted his comments on social media as his former club clarified the situation.
Brisbane has communicated that Robinson was denied entry by Gabba security staff because he did not have the required accreditation to access the club’s inner sanctum.
According to the football club, Robinson was issued an accreditation pass by a member of the footy department when it became known he had not been let through.
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Robinson is understood to have turned down the offer when a group of friends he was with was denied entry.
Robinson, who played for both Carlton and Brisbane before hanging the boots up in 2022, was there to watch his two clubs do battle at the Gabba.
He watched on as the Lions blew the Blues off the park, running away with a 28-point victory after the home side had led 60-0 in the second quarter.
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Robinson posted on Twitter at 11pm (AEST): “Imagine playing and bleeding for a club for eight years, copping copious amounts of head knocks and staples in my face (long term effects) just to have my family turned away to come down to the rooms after the game to celebrate with my old teammates,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Football is a fake family, just remember that. I’ll never go to a Lions game again.”
Robinson deleted the post on Sunday morning.
Robinson had earlier shared photos of him in Lions supporters gear and he has appeared to support the Lions in previous matches where they have come up against Carlton, who he played 100 games for.
It comes after Robinson also shared his disappointment at the way his career ended in Brisbane.
The 35-year-old was delisted at the end of 2022 and was not picked up by rival clubs.
It ended in a messy fashion when he was denied an opportunity for his retirement to be celebrated by fans and teammates.
At the time Robinson said Lions coach Chris Fagan made it clear that his retirement had to be kept under wraps heading into the club’s preliminary final loss.
Robinson also gave Fagan a public swipe before the dust had settled.
“Devastated Fages (Chris Fagan) wouldn’t allow me to announce this in person to the supporters and my teammates, but I guess that’s footy,” he posted.
“It’s been an absolute privilege pulling on the Fitzroy and Lions jumper!”
He has since said he has fallen out of love with the sport and told SEN radio earlier this year that the handling of his retirement is the main reason for it.
“That was probably the start of it,” he said.
“The way that all happened and went down was obviously a kick in the nuts and that’s when I was like, you know what, it’s a business, it’s footy, the game that you love. I did fall out of love with the game for about two years before I finished, even though we were successful and doing well, the only thing I loved was gameday.
“Everything else, the meetings, the same training, so repetitive, pre-season was just too much for me and my back was getting pretty sore, I had a couple of bulging discs and we couldn’t that out until late in the late season of my career.”
Having turned to a semi-professional boxing career, Robinson said he was burnt out and disenchanted with the sport.
“I hate footy, to be honest… I’m serious,” Robinson said.
“I’d say it’s just the way the game is going… not in terms of the physicality because I know Kingy (Breakfast co-host David King) is big on concussions and stuff but the game that I fell in love with, obviously that’s gone.
“I’m probably just a bit burnt out, to be honest, 14 years in the system and then I went back and played local footy, got good money but I was getting bashed up by 21-year-olds, little s***s that just wanted to make a name for themselves and I was trying to hold back not getting suspended every game.
