Mad Monday, as the name suggests, is a bit of wild day for Australian athletes, but one AFL player overstepped the mark and is under investigation after setting fire to a dwarf’s clothes.
‘Mad Monday’ is a traditional day of celebration for Australian athletes in various codes at the end of the season, where they let their hair and enjoy a few social beverages, followed by a few more.
St. Kilda decided to employ some dwarf entertainment for the day and things got a little out of hand when the clothing of Blake Johnson, known as ‘Mr. Big’, caught fire. His colleague and fellow performer Arthur Serevetas explained to a local TV station how the incident came to pass.
“A player went behind my friend with one of those gas lighters that you light up a stove and basically lit him up,” Serevetas told Channel Nine.
“Part of his shirt and pants caught on fire. After that someone put it out and he got ticked off and we basically left.”
St. Kilda has launched an investigation into the incident and AFL football operations manager Mark Evans thinks it may mark the end of such festivities.
“The players have been playing pranks on each other by setting the shoelaces on fire and singing happy birthday and they’ve singed the clothing of a performer that they had there,” he said.
“I think these practices of mad Mondays and bizarre behaviours and all those sorts of things, I think they’re well gone.”
A Mad Monday indeed.
