Belmont Sports Club apologises for incident involving two members and an umpire during Belmont v Bannockburn clash

Belmont has released a statement following an altercation between two of its members and an umpire. And the GDFL president has outlined how they will make things right.

AFL Barwon and the GDFL are investigation. Picture: Stephen Harman

Belmont Sports Club has apologised for an incident involving two of their members and a GDFL umpire, saying it will sanction the Lions supporters involved.

It is alleged two Belmont supporters confronted an umpire at the three-quarter-time break during their seniors match between Belmont and Bannockburn and verbally abused the official.

SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE FULL STATEMENT

Belmont said the members involved have shown “genuine remorse” for their actions and have provided information to the investigation launched by AFL Barwon and the GDFL.

GDFL president Neville Whitley attended a meeting at Belmont Sports Club about the incident last night and confirmed that the league would allow the club to administer the punishments, but said the competition would step in if they didn’t feel the sanctions were significant enough.

While the sanctions are yet to be finalised with the league, Whitley said Belmont – and possibly the alleged offenders themselves – are set to write letters to the umpires apologising for the incident.

He said the club even raised the possibility of the two members being involved in an umpiring capacity for a match to get a sense of the pressure officials are under.

“Belmont Lions Sports Club does not condone Umpire abuse in any form: Verbal, Physical or otherwise implied. Our club has a zero tolerance to this behaviour and wish to advise that we have handled the matter internally, with sanctions handed down to the individuals involved,” the club said in a statement.

“We will continue to aspire to providing a welcoming and safe environment for everyone and would like to pass on our sincerest apologies to the Match Officials involved.

“Those involved have been forthcoming with information regarding the altercation, as well as showing genuine remorse for their actions and the impact this has had both on the Match Officials and the Club as a whole.”

Whitley said the club has owned the incident and is putting measures in place to change its culture, saying the league would support the two Lions members umpiring a game.

“Belmont are handling it in a professional manner under our guidance – I met with them last night. I left it with them to handle the penalty and if it isn’t severe enough we will call in and step it up a notch,” Whitley said.

“They were really sympathetic and apologised for what happened. They are a club that is trying to change culture and Belmont’s not the only one that has had problems – it’s general society that has to be looked at as well.

“The people that have been involved are apologetic as well and it was suggested that they might voluntary write a letter of apology to the umpires and go down that track.

“The club is going to write a letter of apology and they are talking about the people who are involved doing the same thing. They are even talking about – maybe they should umpire a game somehow, whether the umpires would allow them to be involved.

‘We would support that if that’s what they would like to do. They could participate in the umpiring in some manner.”

Probe launched into alleged fan-umpire incident

— Dan Batten and Ben Cameron

AFL Barwon and the Geelong and District Football Netball League have launched an investigation into an alleged incident involving a supporter and an umpire during Saturday’s GDFL senior game between Bannockburn and Belmont Lions.

AFL Barwon said it is investigating an allegation that a Belmont supporter approached and “attempted to hit” an umpire during a break in play at Winter Reserve.

It is understood the alleged incident broke out after two older male Belmont supporters approached umpires at the centre circle at three quarter time.

Geelong Football Umpires League chair David Chaston confirmed there was an incident between spectators and an umpire which is currently under investigation, but would not provide any further comment.

The GFUL held an urgent meeting on Monday night which Chaston said was to reinforce the league’s support for all umpires and their welfare, while promoting the See It, Call It, Change It campaign.

Belmont Lions are holding a meeting to address the incident tonight – which will be attended by GDFL president Neville Whitley – but the club declined to comment on the allegations.

AFL Barwon Regional Manager Ed Wilson said allegations of this nature are “very disappointing” and that they have a duty as a governing body to stamp incidents of umpire abuse out.

A Facebook post from the Geelong Football Umpires League regarding their urgent meeting.

“Due to the magnitude of the event, it has been brought to our attention as an allegation that there was an attempt to hit an umpire – I’m certainly glad to report that the umpire was not hit by the spectator based on the information we have received so far,” Wilson said.

“Regardless, any attempt to physically assault any member of our community is certainly enough for us to launch an investigation and try and understand what transpired to stop it happening again.

“If members of the community do feel inclined to make such an advance towards an officiating member of a game, it is really disappointing for community sport when something like that transpires.

“We fully support (Geelong Umpires) showing the leadership they have to support their members and to ensure they are aware that they have a safe and welcoming environment which we want to continue to officiate in.”

Whitley attended the umpires meeting last night, where he reinforced the league’s strong stance against spectator abuse towards umpire.

He said the competition will do everything it can to “eliminate” umpire abuse.

“It’s only hearsay at this stage until we get to the crux of it but we don’t tolerate these incidents … whether they are supporters or just part of the crowd, people think they have a right to abuse umpires – even at AFL level they do over the fence,” Whitley said.

“It’s very hard to stop that at local level as well but we will do our best to eliminate it wherever we can.

“(The umpire meeting) was a matter of reinforcing the umpires that the league is fully supportive of them.

The alleged incident comes after a spike in umpire abuse complaints this year in the region, with AFL Barwon sending a memo to clubs in the last month.

“We certainly know that this year overall across the entire region – regardless of league or competition – we have definitely had a spike in incidents involving spectators and how that impacts the play – whether it has been during a game itself, between quarters or at halftime,” Wilson.

“We as AFL Barwon have been proactive in terms of supporting our clubs to tackle some of these challenges and make sure we have the right processes in place in what is meant to be a safe environment.”

Originally published as Belmont Sports Club apologises for incident involving two members and an umpire during Belmont v Bannockburn clash