SA’s badly behaved sports people exposed including Josh Glenn, Adam Jones, Troy Scott
From hot-headed soccer coaches, drug-taking footballers to punch-throwing cricketers, these are some of SA’s worst behaving sports people.
Local Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Bad sports can be found in all games and pastimes – and South Australia is no exception.
From a hot-headed soccer coach, drug-taking footballers to a punch-throwing cricketer, these are some of the state’s worst examples – both on and off the field – of sports people pushing the boundaries and flat out breaking the rules.
JOSH GLENN
Former Norwood and Gold Coast Suns footballer Josh Glenn was found to have two types of anabolic steroids in his system as the SANFL handed down the first suspension for performance enhancing drugs.
Glenn was banned for four years in late 2019 by the league’s anti-doping tribunal for testing positive to prohibited substances 19-Norandrosterone and 19-Noretiocholanolone on June 16, 2018, following the Redlegs’ 32-point victory over Glenelg.
The then 25-year-old, who played five AFL games for the Gold Coast Suns, was issued a provisional suspension on August 10, 2018.
Glenn acknowledged the violation, accepted the sanction and waived his right to a hearing before the SANFL anti-doping tribunal.
He will not be able to return to any SANFL or AFL-recognised football competition until August 10, 2022, including community level.
ADAM JONES
Salisbury West captain Adam Jones was banned for life from the Adelaide Footy League after he was found guilty of four offences from one game.
Jones was suspended for a total of 27 weeks, taking his career tally to 34 games and over the league’s 12-game life ban threshold.
It was the most matches suspension handed down in league history for an individual from a single game.
Jones was found guilty of striking, kicking and undue rough play from four incidents caught on camera against Trinity Old Scholars in August, 2018.
The guilty verdict breached a good behaviour agreement Salisbury West had with the league, meaning the club was also immediately turfed for the remainder of that season.
It was the second club to be removed from the league that season, following fellow northern suburbs club Salisbury North.
Jones received three suspensions for striking, one for 10 weeks (by knee), a second for six weeks (by knee) and a third for an elbow.
He also received three games for attempting to trip, while a stomping charge was dismissed.
The league deregisters players if they exceed its 12-match threshold.
One of the hits shattered the jaw of Trinity player Carl Teusner, who underwent surgery.
TROY SCOTT
The Adelaide Bite relief pitcher received the biggest suspension in Australian Baseball League history for his part in a bench-clearing brawl that marred a clash at Norwood Oval in January, 2015
Scott was suspended for six games and fined an undisclosed amount for his part in the ninth innings fight in the match against the Melbourne Aces.
Melbourne’s veteran and former Major League Baseball player Brad Harman, who was hit by a pitch from the Bite’s Tony Vocca, was suspended for one game and fined.
Aces relief pitcher Al Yevoli also received a fine for his part in the brawl.
Video of the incident showed Vocca’s inside pitch striking Harman on the left hip, causing the batter to throw down his bat and helmet and begin walking towards the mound.
The move prompted benches on both sides to clear in an ugly melee that lasted two minutes before players simmered.
Scott was later arrested that month and charged with assault for allegedly punching opposition player Kellin Deglan.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge and that he was acting in self defence.
Scott, then 21, went back to the US before his trial was due to begin in September, 2015.
But he never returned, forfeiting his $10,000 bail.
MARK HOWARD
Brighton cricketer Mark Howard was banned for 14 months for punching Adelaide High Old Scholars captain coach Warren Mitchell in A1 turf cricket match.
He was suspended until January 1, 2009 for punching Adelaide High Old Scholars captain and coach Warren Mitchell during an A1 Premier turf cricket match at Adelaide High on October 13, 2007.
Howard claimed he had been sledged by Mitchell who was bowling at the time.
Brighton secretary Neil Smith said he hoped there would be a reduction in penalty, raising concerns with how evidence was tendered and how the suspension was arrived at.
“We expected to get a significant penalty and I’ve got no doubt some people might think it was not excessive enough,” Mr Smith said.
However, long-time turf cricket observers said it was the worst incident they could remember in the competition’s history and the penalty stood.
The club eventually abandoned its appeal.
MATT BEKIROVSKI
It took Salisbury United soccer player Matt Bekirovski just a few moments to realise what he had said to Playford City’s Elvis Kamsoba was wrong.
But not long after the word “monkey” came out of Bekirovski’s mouth during a State League game on May 11, 2013 Burundi-born Kamsoba had a tear running down his cheek.
“I lost it. When I heard it I was like ‘why would you say that?’ I was just feeling really sad – the only difference between us is the skin,” Kamsoba said.
Bekirovski, 23 at the time, admitted racially vilifying Kamsoba, then 17, at a Football Federation SA tribunal hearing and was hit with a three-game suspension.
The two clubs – northern rivals which have a long-held mutual respect for one another – formed a united front to tackle the issue, which led Bekirovski to make three separate apologies.
The first was to Kamsoba immediately after the game, then a written apology to his own teammates before another one to the victim in front of the entire Patriots squad.
“It was daunting, but I knew it was the right thing to do,” Bekirovski said.
DAMIAN RIGNEY
Amateur footballer Damian Rigney was suspended for 32 weeks – leading to a lifetime ban from the league – after being found guilty of racial vilification and attempting to headbutt an umpire.
The SA Amateur Football League suspended the North Pines player – a former South Adelaide SANFL footballer – at a tribunal hearing in September, 2014.
The sentence was enough to spark an automatic life ban from the SAAFL, which kicks in when any player is suspended for 12 matches or more.
He received a 10-match ban for attempting to headbutt an umpire, two eight-game penalties for threatening an umpire and racial vilification, and six weeks for umpire abuse.
The sentence came after North Pines walked off and forfeited its Division 7 semi-final against Adelaide University at University Oval because three players had been reported.
Rigney, who played 30 league games for South Adelaide from 2001-02, also exceeded the 16-game threshold of football’s national deregistration policy that has been adopted by the SANFL and many country or suburban leagues.
HURBERTUS JANSSEN
Former Little Athletics Elizabeth president Hubertus Janssen pleaded guilty to running up an authorised bill on the club’s credit card and going on a “spree” at Bunnings.
Hurbertus Janssen, 58, of Elizabeth Park, pleaded guilty in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court in December last year to 17 counts of theft.
The court heard, between November 13, 2018 and June 25, 2019, Janssen stole various items from the club’s shed and ran up a bill on the club’s credit card.
It heard Janssen was “in control” of the club but had betrayed the trust put in him by members.
Items included a trailer, storage boxes, gardening items, a tool kit, outdoor chairs, cleaning products, moving boxes, a hand trolley, nuts and bolts, globes, insulation tape, rope, tarpaulins, barbecue equipment and synthetic turf.
Janssen, who was ordered to pay Little Athletics South Australia $1958.31 in compensation, was placed on a two-year good behaviour bond, received a conviction and will have to pay more than $3000 in other costs and fees.
ADAM RUMBELOW
Amateur footballer Adam Rumbelow attacked an umpire and received a record 20-year ban – on the same day that his club was deregistered from the state’s largest grassroots competition.
Rosewater Football Club’s 300-game veteran and longtime captain Adam Rumbelow pleaded guilty at a tribunal hearing in July, 2016 to attacking central umpire Craig Trewartha after being yellow-carded.
The 20-year ban on Rumbelow, then 36, was believed to be a record at the time.
The umpire was left with a cut and badly bruised eye.
The incident occurred during an Adelaide Footy League match against Blackfriars Old Scholars, prompting a special meeting of the Board of Management, which deregistered the 130-year-old club.
Rumbelow would later appear in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court in November of that year, pleading guilty to one aggravated count assault.
He blamed work stress and back pain for “snapping” and punching Trewartha in a “vicious and cowardly attack just seven minutes into the game.
He would receive a two-year good behaviour bond and a conviction.
DIEGO PELLEGRINI
Soccer coach Diego Pellegrini was banned from the State League competition for over a year after he was found guilty of violent conduct at a game in August 2016.
The Eastern United boss was red-carded during an incident in the 102nd minute of his team’s Round 16 match against Fulham United.
Football Federation SA did not release details of the incident but said in a statement that Pellegrini had been suspended for 12 weeks for violent conduct against an opposing player.
They said he would also serve a further six months’ suspension due to a previous violent offence in 2015.
“The suspension is to be served during the football season, meaning (Pellegrini) will be suspended from Saturday 13 August, 2016 until completion of the suspension during the 2018 season,” the statement read.
The Federation also imposed a six-month suspended sentence until the end of the 2019 season.
It was his second major indiscretion, banned for a year after being found guilty of entering the field of play during a brawl between players.
Football Federation SA’s disciplinary committee punished Pellegrini for his part in a melee during the State League match with Adelaide Cobras at Athelstone Recreation Reserve in May, 2015.
The committee barred Pellegrini from coaching on match days for 12 months, with an additional 12-month ban suspended for two years.
DEAN MARTIN
Smithfield Football Club’s junior team was kicked out of the amateur league in 2014 after its under-18 coach received an 18-month ban for failing to stop umpire abuse and intimidation.
The SA amateur league suspended Panthers coach Dean Martin at a tribunal hearing for bringing the game into disrepute.
It followed Smithfield players intimidating and abusing umpires during the club’s under-18 match against Broadview at Broadview Oval in June that year.
Martin would later say he “never got a chance to defend” himself.
The league also banned a Panthers under-18 player for eight games for two counts of abusive language to umpires and another for four weeks for the same charge.
Another teammate was suspended for two weeks for misconduct.
The club was also fined $2000 and had eight premiership points deducted from its two senior sides, including its unbeaten division seven team.
League chief executive John Kernahan said Martin did “nothing to stop the incident”, prompting what he said was one of the longest bans for an amateur league coach at any level in recent years.
He said the under-18 team was booted from the league because it was already on notice for incidents of bad behaviour.
“GJC” THE TENNIS COACH
The tennis mentor who repeatedly called and sent texts to a 13-year-old girl he was instructing – and with whom he allegedly had sexual conversations – was barred from working with children.
The 57-year-old man – identified only as “GJC” in South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal documents – lost an appeal to have the ban overturned in August last year.
That was despite the Director of Public Prosecutions withdrawing criminal charges against the man over the incidents.
A judgment recently published by the tribunal said the Adelaide tennis instructor sent the girl numerous text messages, repeatedly called her and had two lengthy phone conversations on July 3, 2017.
The girl was “distressed” by what happened and her family reported it to police.
According to a court judgment, police statements from the girl showed she said the conversations were about “matters of a sexual nature”.
Ditters deliver: 10 things we learned in local SA footy
The reigning AdFL div one premier bounced back for an important comeback win on Saturday, remaining on top of the ladder with finals fast approaching. See what we learned from the weekend’s country and suburban footy action.
Read more
Ranked: The Eyre Peninsula’s top 50 footballers of 2025
The Eyre Peninsula is stacked with star country footy talent so we’ve drawn from the region’s four main leagues to rank the top 50 players of 2025. See who made the cut.
Read more