“Bad mistake”: Lyon and Watson unhappy with Sheahan snub

Footy media luminary Mike Sheahan was snubbed from the Australian football Hall of Fame night on Tuesday night.

Sheahan, one of the founding selectors of the Hall of Fame in 1996, was not invited to the celebration at Crown which saw six new inductees and one Legend elevation.

Melbourne great Garry Lyon, who was inducted last year, cannot believe the doyen of footy media was left out.

“Mike Sheahan was one of the original selectors for the Hall of Fame,” Lyon said on SEN Breakfast.

“He himself will be in the Hall of Fame, I think, at some stage. He deserves to be as a luminary of the media.

“He wasn’t invited to the Hall of Fame. That’s not right, is it? You can’t have oversights like that, can you?”

Essendon legend Tim Watson, an inductee in 2000, agrees.

“No, it’s not right,” Watson said.

“You wonder how it does happen. He’s been one of the game’s most influential and important media partners of the last 50 years.

“He’s a fierce, passionate person when it comes to the history, traditions and culture of football. I don’t know if any person I’ve met is more passionate about the game.

“You can have your own views about whether or not you agree with what he’s said over the years, but you could not argue that this man is not as passionate and committed and emotionally connected to the game as anyone I’ve ever come across.”

Lyon has labelled Sheahan’s non-invite as a “bad mistake”.

“The prominence and reverence with which the Hall of Fame is now held is due in no small part to people like Mike Sheahan who established the criteria, the framework, the basis, puts the perspective around it about who gets in and why and how,” he added.

“When people debate who can and can’t get in, you turn to people like Mike Sheahan.

“I think that’s a bad mistake.”

Watson added: “It is, and hopefully it’s corrected in time for next year too.”

Sheahan himself told the Herald Sun: “Not only can I not get in it, but I can’t get invited either.

“I think the original selection group should have the option to say I’ll go or I’ll decline.

“Nothing is as obsolete as yesterday’s man.”