Woodville-West Torrens in push to save Craig Parry from national life football ban
WOODVILLE-West Torrens officials are trying to spare ruckman Craig Parry from becoming the first SANFL player to be banned for life under a new policy.
WOODVILLE-West Torrens officials are meeting with club lawyers to try to spare premiership-winning ruckman Craig Parry from becoming the first SANFL player to face a life ban under a new national football policy.
Parry has accepted a two-game ban for striking in the SANFL at the weekend. This takes his career tally to 16 matches - and immediate deregistration in the SANFL.
Under football’s national deregistration policy, written by the AFL in 2011 and adopted by the SANFL in 2012, a player is banned for life when his suspension record reaches 16 or more games.
Parry’s ban from all football around Australia can only be overturned on appeal to the SA Football Commission. The code says the commission can only reinstate Parry if it is “satisifed the player is genuinely rehabilitated and unlikely to re-offend”.
An appeal is likely to be heard as soon as Wednesday.
Woodville-West Torrens Football Club president Kurt Slaven said he was meeting with club lawyers to review the national deregistration policy. The seven-page code says an “exemption shall only be granted under exceptional circumstances”.
Parry’s tribunal record dates back to 2003 when he was banned for five games for striking. In 2011, the premiership-winning ruckman was suspended for three games for head-butting and two for rough conduct.
Parry was banned for four games for striking last season. His latest suspension is from striking North Adelaide rival Matt Campbell on Saturday. The two-game penalty takes his career tally to 16.
Parry, 29, has played 179 SANFL league games at South Adelaide, Port Adelaide and the Eagles.