Port Adelaide fan banned from club membership for two years
Port Adelaide has announced it has taken serious action against the fan at the centre of Richmond star Tom Lynch’s sideline drink fling.
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The Port Adelaide fan at the centre of Richmond star Tom Lynch’s drink-flinging sideline incident on Friday night has been stripped of his club membership for two years.
The Power announced on Monday the fan that tossed a drink that Lynch described as a “Bundy and coke” has had his membership revoked immediately.
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The moment came after the Tigers got the better of the Power by six points in an enthralling preliminary final at Adelaide Oval to book their spot in the Grand Final.
Devastated Power fans waited around long after the final siren to give Lynch a serve as he stepped up to do a post-match interview with Channel 7.
“Sorry, I’m copping it here a little bit. Can you please repeat that,” Lynch said in the middle of his interview. “I just had a Bundy and Coke thrown on me.”
Channel 7’s Tom Browne reported a fan accused of throwing the drink at Lynch was ejected from the ground.
Port Adelaide piled further sanctions on Monday.
“The Port Adelaide Football Club has revoked for two years the membership of a patron who threw a drink at a Richmond player following Friday night’s Preliminary Final,” the club said in a statement.
“The club will not tolerate actions that are in breach of the Club’s spectator code of behaviour, and endorses the further AFL and Stadium sanctions.”
However, the incident had a silver lining with Lynch showing his class moments after the interview came to an end when he spoke to a young Port Adelaide fan who was in tears.
The child eventually returned to his dad’s side after the conversation with Lynch, in a moment that could turn the footy public’s view of him around.
The heartwarming moment was made even better when the youngster and his father were interviewed on the weekend.
Archer Merritt couldn’t believe the way fellow fans were acting in the aftermath of the gruelling contest and sought out the star Tiger.
“The Port Adelaide supporters were bullying him and making fun of him because he kicked a goal. We felt bad for him and we wanted to congratulate him,” Archer Merritt told Channel 7.
Archer’s father Jason drew praise from footy fans after explaining to his son the actions from angry fans weren’t the way to go about handling a loss.
"One of the Port supporters had thrown his drink all over Lynch. Archer was getting a bit worried. I took him up the back and said to him, 'That's not how you lose.'"
— 7AFL (@7AFL) October 17, 2020
All class 🙠pic.twitter.com/riWVUzNDIL
“One of the Port supporters had thrown his drink all over Lynch,” Jason said.
“Archer was getting a bit worried because things were getting a bit violent and escalated. I took him up the back (of the stands) away from it and said to him, ‘That’s not how you lose. That’s poor sportsmanship to carry on like that when your team’s lost’.
“Archie felt bad for that and understood that’s not how you lose a game of football, and that’s not how you treat footballers.
“So he asked if he could get down there and congratulate Tom Lynch on making the Grand Final.”
Originally published as Port Adelaide fan banned from club membership for two years