They both have long and storied histories; both invariably ignite extremes of community passions and both are said to be misunderstood.
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But for Eddie McGuire and James Packer a day of reckoning arrived today.
Mr McGuire is now the former president of Collingwood Football Club. He stepped down from the role he's held for more than two decades just hours ago.
Mr Packer, whose private company Consolidated Press Holdings holds a controlling stake in Crown Resorts, was told his company was not fit to run its $2.2 billion Sydney casino at Barangaroo.
Both have been under substantial pressure for some time - McGuire for a litany of discriminatory actions and statements, Mr Packer for presiding over a gambling empire with "questionable" business links.
The writing was on the wall for the man known as Eddie Everywhere (such was his ubiquity) when McGuire addressed the press after his club's report into racism was released eight days ago.
Safe to say the report titled "Do Better" was a hot tip Mr McGuire could have done well to action. It found Collingwood had an unhealthy culture of protecting individuals ahead of the club.
Mr McGuire, and the club, today arrived at the same conclusion his detractors had some time ago: his position was untenable.
Mr Packer's issue offers up all sorts of additional dilemmas - particularly regarding gaming establishments in other states, notably Victoria and Western Australia.
In a report to the NSW gaming authority, Commissioner Patricia Bergin found Crown subsidiaries were used to launder money and that the company's conduct facilitated money laundering for at least five years.
And although billionaire Mr Packer was able to manoeuvre the company's operations from afar, despite no longer being on the board, his actions had "rather disastrous consequences" for the company, the Commissioner found.
And as if the can of worms opened here was not enough to have most politicians stalling for time, independent MP from Tasmania Andrew Wilkie wasted no time asking for the obvious.
"I also call on the Prime Minister to revisit my repeated calls in the Federal Parliament for a Royal Commission into the casino industry. These have so far been blocked by both the Government and the Opposition, and the question hangs heavy in the air, 'What have they got to hide?'"
What indeed.
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