Teen player banned for two years for using weapon at junior footy game

On the same weekend as the all-in brawl at a suburban footy game in Sydney’s north, a 14-year-old player was wrestled to the ground after threatening opposition players with a weapon, sparking a melee in the car park.

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A 14-year-old footy player threatened spectators with a weapon and had to be wrestled to the ground by horrified volunteers after a Penrith Junior Rugby League game last weekend.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal the player — who played front row for Doonside — has since been banned from rugby league for two years after pleading guilty to brandishing an extendible baton, bigger than those used by police.

The offender, wearing a hoodie, had the weapon fully extended ready to hit an opposition player’s brother when tackled. Police were called and confiscated the baton — which measured twice the size of a regulation police baton.

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The player approaches, brandishing the baton.

The incident occurred as the Doonside players were huddling together after their match against Colyton when the culprit broke away with four teammates and stormed towards opposition players and supporters.

A terrified Molesi Alefaio, a volunteer official from Glenmore Park, which was hosting the game, grappled with the 14-year-old, who weighs 110kg and stands 187cm, and placed him in a wrist lock before confiscating the weapon. Others then intervened, including an off-duty policewoman.

The drama then escalated when parents and supporters from each club began a melee in the oval car park.

That something like this should be at a junior footy game is disgraceful.

Police will allege the mother of a Doonside player assaulted the mother of a Colyton player.

There had been an attempt to segregate parents from each side but Doonside supporters told officials to “f … off.”

Volunteers who apprehended the 14-year-old initially thought he was holding a large knife or golf club. Glenmore Park secretary, Mark Wildman, said it was the worst incident he had seen in his 18 years as a volunteer and the most disturbing in the club’s 70-year history.

The Daily Telegraph has been told a Facebook exchange between players from both clubs started the ill feeling.

A police spokeswoman said a young person had been identified, the baton had been seized and an investigation was continuing

“To see a weapon produced at a junior league game is something I have never confronted before,” said Penrith Junior Rugby League manager Phil Cummings.

“This is a very serious incident when weapons are produced. If we don’t act, someone is going to get seriously hurt. It’s asking a lot for volunteers to have to deal with this. (Alefaio) risked injury to himself to remove that baton.”

The Doonside team has been kicked out of the competition for this year.

The drama came on the same weekend an ugly all-in brawl broke out in an A grade match between Narrabeen Sharks and St John’s Eagles where offending players are facing life bans.