RANKED: The biggest suspensions in FNQ sport
Biffs, bumps and brawlers are usually what leads to lengthy sports bans. But in Cairns, we have seen fake urine, throwing basketballs at referees and everything in between. The Cairns Post has ranked the 10 biggest suspensions in FNQ sport over the years.
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Biffs, bumps and brawlers, that is what usually leads to lengthy bans in the sporting context.
And, while, locally here in FNQ, there has been plenty of dust ups and punch ons leading to big suspensions, there has always been some odd and downright weird long-term bans.
That includes fake urine, throwing basketballs at referees and everything in between.
Cairns Post sports writer JORDAN GERRANS has ranked the 10 biggest suspensions in FNQ sport over the years.
MITCHELL’S BRAIN FADE
Who could forget the American import Tony Mitchell’s short but very eventful stint in FNQ?
Brought in late in the season to help the club’s finals push, Mitchell left Australia a few months later with a 12-month ban.
The import was banned for the 2017-18 NBL season for throwing a ball at ref Vaughan Mayberry after their semi-final loss to Perth.
After almost an entire week deliberating after the original ban was handed down, the NBL Tribunal cut former Taipan Mitchell’s ban from an entire season to just 10 matches.
He was never going to play in Australia again so in reality, the suspension meant little to the American.
Mitchell last played with AS Salé in Morocco.
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KERRY ROCKETT GONE FOR 12 MONTHS
Poor old Kerry Rockett is still serving this ban.
The 54-year-old Tablelands-based veteran is one of the more consistent local heavyweight riders when he is not on the sidelines.
Late last year, he pleaded guilty to attempting to deceive the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission by delivering a substitute urine sample at Atherton’s racecourse during trackwork in the morning.
The experienced rider also left the racecourse on that morning of October 18 after being directed to remain to supply a valid sample by stewards.
He was suspended for a full year.
He was also fined $300.
Rockett’s licence was disqualified until midnight October 18, 2020.
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THE INFAMOUS AFL CAIRNS GRAND FINAL BRAWL
Where do we start with this one?
Plenty of people who have never been to Cairns know about the infamous fight at the 2004 local decider.
The punch-up at the local AFL grand final between the North Cairns Tigers and the Port Douglas Crocs sparked one of the lengthiest investigations in the history of the code.
The fight started when Tigers’ players charged at their opponents after the pre-match national anthem ended and continued after the kick-off when spectators and coaching staff became involved.
Players were suspended for a total of 400 matches, suspensions ranging from 10 matches to five years, for various charges in relation to the brawl.
The local league declared the Grand Final a “no result” and withheld the 2004 premiership.
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MANUNDA HAWKS BANNED AS A CLUB
Players, coaches and officials are often suspended, but entire clubs?
That is a rarity and it happened just a few years ago for a local AFL Cairns club.
The Manunda Hawks copped a landmark 2015 season suspension that was handed to their senior and reserve grade teams.
Both Hawks men’s teams were banned from playing in the AFL Cairns competition when they chose not to play in Port Douglas for a game.
The Hawks voted not to travel for the game, citing a duty of care to their members after threats were made on social media towards one of their players.
But the AFL Cairns board ruled that measures had been put in place to ensure it was a safe environment and that the Hawks’ actions could not be condoned.
They are now back in the competition and played in a grand final a couple of years after they were reinstated.
LIFE BAN FOR CANADIAN TOURIST
Robert Keith Rogers is not a household name in FNQ sport circles but he certainly made an impact in his short stay in the region.
Rogers is the man who, as a 19-year-old in 2003, ran on to the playing court at the Cairns Convention Centre and tackled the Cairns Taipans National Basketball League mascot Joe Blake.
Rogers was charged with disorderly conduct and given a notice to appear in Cairns Magistrates Court.
Rogers ran on to the arena and tackled Blake as he rode around the court on a scooter during a time-out in the last quarter.
The incident prompted the Cairns Taipans to warn corporate box holders that any of their guests who misbehave at games will be ejected immediately.
At the time it was reported Rogers was banned by the Taipans club from attending home games for life.
Blake himself showed no obvious signs of distress from the incident.
MASSIVE FNQ RUGBY BRAWL
Fourteen players from two local rugby clubs were handed suspensions totalling 84 weeks after an on-field brawl in August 2015.
Queensland Rugby Union’s judicial committee issued seven Penrhyn players with eight-week suspensions for their part in the Vico Oval melee, while seven Tablelands players each copped four-week bans.
FNQ Rugby was rocked when in the latter stages of the Round 21 lower-grade game up to 100 people, including players, team benches and sections of the crowd were involved in the 20-minute brawl.
The incident was allegedly triggered when a Sharks player took exception to being heckled by a rival player after dropping the ball in the process of scoring a try.
CDRL COACH AND PITCH INVADER SANCTIONED
Former Edmonton coach Cameron Miller wriggled out of a long ban for contrary conduct in the middle of 2015.
The then Storm boss was handed a 10-game ban for abusing a match official during and after the CDRL first grade match with Ivanhoes at Petersen Park.
The six-person judiciary panel, which also dished out a 10-year ban to an unnamed pitch invader who pushed a touch judge in the same match, extended Miller’s existing three-year suspended sentence to five years.
The Storm’s thorough case saw the meeting convene for two hours and 15 minutes before the punishment was handed down.
He was also banned from coaching any junior teams in that 10-game period.
DURBIDGE LASHES OUT AT CAZALYS
Centrals Trinity Beach veteran Brian Durbidge copped a lengthy AFL Cairns suspension after a Port Douglas runner was punched amid an ugly brawl that marred the 2016 preliminary final.
Durbidge was charged with three counts of striking and one of kneeing and received eight weeks on the outer.
Durbidge left Crocs player Ross McCrae and runner Glenn Dickson with facial injuries late in the fourth quarter.
Durbidge was red-carded after throwing two punches at McCrae before Dickson entered the fray to try to remove McCrae.
Dickson wore the brunt of Durbidge’s frustration too before Centrals’ other runners entered the melee.
An incident of this kind was coming for much of the last term of the game as Durbidge was involved in a number of spot fires around the ground before he and McCrae crossed paths in front of the main Cazalys Stadium stand.
Dixon’s face was still bloodied well after the game, which Port Douglas won 157-28.
Just months before the incident in the Cairns Post’s AFL Cairns Players’ Poll, Durbidge was rated as the biggest pest in the competition.
LOCK JUST AVOIDS JAIL
South Cairns veteran Daniel Lock missed much of the 2017 AFL Cairns season after he was handed a nine-week suspension.
Lock, a former coach of the Cutters, pleaded guilty to striking young Saints midfielder Riley McCall in their Round 11 contest at Fretwell Park.
McCall had surgery to repair his jaw, which was broken in three places in the incident.
The incident happened behind play in the first term of the game, which the Cutters won, and Lock was reported by the goal umpire.
The following year, Lock was spared a lengthy jail term from the incident.
Lock pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to McCall.
The charge had a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment.
Lock was ordered to complete community service with no conviction recorded.
CRICKETER GOES OVER THE TOP
A CAIRNS cricketer who assaulted an umpire and other players in a wild outburst during a second grade match was slapped with a five-year ban from the sport back in 2006.
Officials believe the suspension handed down to United fast bowler Matt Best was the heftiest penalty imposed by Cricket Far North at that time.
Best was also banned by his own club after an internal disciplinary hearing.
He was found guilty of five charges, including the serious charge of physically assaulting an umpire, during a match between United and Norths at Griffiths Park.
The other charges included two counts of physically assaulting a player, one of intimidation of an umpire by bad language or conduct and one for threat of assault of other players, match officials or spectators.
Originally published as RANKED: The biggest suspensions in FNQ sport