Local footballers should face harsher consequences for horrific coward punches

The 2025 local footy season has recently been marred by multiple ugly coward punches off of the ball. In the streets these hits could be criminal offences, so why do players get a pass on the footy field?

• Local footy player’s life ban after coward punch
• Slap on the wrist for ‘violent’ footy act

In 1985, VFL/AFL Legend Leigh Matthews was charged with assault by police for a king hit off of the ball during a game against Geelong which broke Cats player Neville Bruns’ jaw – an act Matthews himself labelled “the worst thing I ever did.”

But now, 40 years later, players are still committing ugly acts of violence on the footy field and only leaving with suspensions, so have we learned anything at all?

Local SA footy has been marred by violence in recent weeks.

Ingle Farm player Brandon Rigney was banned from footy for life last week for a coward punch on an opposing Fitzroy player in the Adelaide Footy League - no charges were laid.

This is not the only incident to have happened at the local level around the country this year.

Neville Bruns holds his face after being hit by Leigh Matthews in 1985.

If these incidents happened on the street and not on the football field, the perpetrators could face criminal charges, but – like many others in the past – none were reported to police.

These hits not only leave players injured or concussed, but they can have a significant impact on their lives for the foreseeable future.

Players sustaining Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) has been a growing point of concern in footy in recent years which has seen leagues around the country, including the AFL, significantly increase efforts to protect players above the shoulders.

Just last year Dr James Donnelly, a renowned clinical psychologist with more than 30 years of experience with concussion patients, revealed that of the thousands of athletes he had worked with, around 50 percent had experienced symptoms of concussion for 30 or more days and were at an increased risk of developing CTE and the symptoms which go along with it such as depression, memory loss, mood changes and behavioural issues.

Footballers have enough to worry about within the inevitable physicality of the game, the last thing they need is their livelihoods to be threatened by a senseless hit off of the ball.

Ingle Farm's Brandon Rigney was banned from football for life after an off the ball punch against Fitzroy. Picture: Dartfish TV

Criminal punishment for these kinds of incidents has always been a topic of discussion, it is not a new concept, even at the AFL level where fans and even lawyers called for Andrew Gaff to face assault charges after breaking an 18-year-old Andrew Brayshaw’s jaw in 2018. No charges were laid.

Maybe it is now time for local footy leagues to step forward and make a change.

The onus should not be on victims of a hit, who may be concerned about the backlash from opposition teams or others if they report to the police for assault – competitions could introduce a mandatory reporting to police for incidents which are almost always on video and as cut and dry as these.

Local football tribunals can hand out suspensions for dangerous coward punches but they may not be equipped to be dealing with matters which, if they happened outside the boundary, could be referred to a criminal court.

While there may not be as many ‘dog shots’ on the ground as in Leigh Matthews’ era, holding these players responsible at the highest possible level would go a long way toward eliminating these hits from the game completely.