Users of popular football forum Big Footy uncovered what they considered to be an hilarious example of a celebrity micro-managing their wiki profile, suggesting that Channel Seven personality and host of AFL show Game Day Hamish McLachlan appeared to be the creator and editor of his own Wikipedia entry. But in an email to Crikey, McLachlan has denied these allegations, saying that it was a friend — not him –who made the changes.

This is how the wiki storm has played out since yesterday.

Bigfooty user “questionable” noticed that McLachlan’s Wikipedia page had been created and solely edited by a Wikipedia user named “Rompingwins“.

“questionable” then came to the conclusion that a YouTube user with the same handle “rompingwins” was, in fact, Hamish McLachlan:

“rompingwins” — the YouTube user — also has a video where it appears the Channel Seven commentary team are having farewell drinks.

McLachlan told Crikey that he is “not that inclined to get involved other than to say I know ‘Rompingwins’, as they are a good friend to me and the family.”

“They manage my YouTube uploads too, as I can’t do them and I need to for work.

“The name ‘Rompingwins’ is named after a horse they backed that I owned with mates. ”

On Big Footy “questionable” summarised the edits by “Rompingwins” to McLachlan’s Wikipedia page as:

9 December 2010:

  • creates article. poorly formatted. hagiographical.

25 July 2011:

  • re-words a few sentences to make his prose really stand out.
  •  removes implication that his brother’s connections influenced AFL reporting at fairfax.
  • adds more minute details about his career
  • notes that triple M’s spring racing coverage is “award winning”
  • inserts the word “currently” into the sentence about him and his wife having no children (getting clucky, ham?)

25 July 2011 (an hour later):

  • makes his title at entertainment sports properties seems more impressive
  • inserts this laughable paragraph: “Through Elite Sports Properties, McLachlan was often asked by company director and part owner Craig Kelly to host the companies sporting events that they managed, whether they be golf tournaments, lunches or testimonial dinners. This role suited Hamish and through Kelly insisting he continued to host events, a new career developed. By design or accident, Kelly’s role would change from being Hamish’s immediate boss to his manager.”
  • and this one: “After being seen doing work in Melbourne across horse disciplines in which he was comfortable given his families farming background, Hamish was asked to call equine sports in England and did so for 3 English summers. It was here he spent many hours behind the microphone to became a polished host and caller.”

26 July 2011 (forgot to log into his account for this one):

  • more pointless details about his childhood
  • inserts this sentence “He felt if he couldn’t compete at the highest level, he would like to work and be inspired by those who could.”

28 September 2011:

  • removes all tags saying that the article is unreferenced and unverified

27 October 2011:

  • adds a link to his personal website https://tengoals.com.au
  • struggles really hard to get the formatting for the link to work. requires a dozen attempts

29 February 2012:

  • changes his former ambition to play professional tennis to professional “sport”
  • adds some info about charity work
  • more rewording

The Wikipedia page was locked last night.

McLachlan manages his own website and twitter account.