Former Raiders star Mark McLinden is the NRL grand final pitch invader

The field invader who disrupted the NRL’s grand final was no stranger to Accor Stadium after it was revealed the man behind the field invasion was former Canberra Raider Mark McLinden.

The former 165-match NRL star is now a climate activist, protesting the use of fossil fuels in his bizarre attempt to rip the goal pads off the posts in the final stages of the match.

“A 43-year-old man from Mullumbimby has been arrested after allegedly entering the southern end of the playing field and dragging one of the pads off a goalpost,” a police statement said.

McLinden smiles as security chases after him before finally being tackled to the ground

“He was taken off the pitch through security before he was arrested by the police; he got a ticket for entering the competitive field.’

Mclinden wore a shirt that read ‘end coal, gas and oil’ on the front and ‘for our children’ on the back in an effort to raise awareness of the effects of fossil fuels on the environment.

McLinden hugs a tree in one of his environmental videos posted on his Gentle Earthling page

He now faces a fine of up to $5,000 and could potentially be banned for life from ever attending an NRL game again.

McLinden was signed to the Raiders in 1998, scoring 12 tries in his debut season before being named the NRL’s Rookie of the Year.

He got to play his only representative game when he represented Country in 2001.

After playing 165 games for the Raiders between 1998 and 2004, McLinden moved to England, where he played four seasons in London before having to end his contract in his final year due to a back injury.

He made a cross-code switch when he signed for the Queensland Reds Super Rugby team in 2009, but his rugby career was cut short when an injury interrupted him again and he played just three games.

After football, McLinden became a personal trainer and stayed in England.

He also co-hosted a bizarre YouTube channel called Marty & Ginski, which featured weird videos like a staged zombie outbreak on an island and cramming as many people as possible into a chicken bus in South America to set a world record. .

Mark McLinden being chased by Ryan Cross of the Roosters during the first week of the NRL final between the Sydney Roosters and the Canberra Raiders at Aussie Stadium in 2004

The channel was mainly focused on their travels through South America and Australia to promote a better environment.

Today, he is a content creator and has produced videos for climate action groups and artists.

He also has a new YouTube channel called Gentle Earthling, which he describes as “a page dedicated to preserving and protecting the natural environment.”

McLinden’s pitch invasion appears to have been premeditated, given the shirt he chose to wear and also a Facebook post he put live 30 minutes before the grand final.

The full message McLinden posted on Facebook during the NRL grand finale before his invasion

“The world’s climate scientists have concluded that the continued burning of coal, gas and oil is causing catastrophic loss of ecosystems and climate change,” he wrote.

This makes the stable climate that humans have enjoyed for the past 10,000 years becomes unstable before our eyes. The floods, fires, heatwaves and droughts will only get worse unless we stand up to the fossil fuel industry and demand that they pay for the carbon they emit.

In addition, they must phase out their use to replace them with renewable energy much faster than the governments have allowed.

‘Climate scientists are turning to activism because of government failure to act. I stand for science. I support scientists and have joined them in activism.

“I encourage you to do the same. Our children and grandchildren rely on it.