Club threatened with deregistration over on-field dust-up

A club has been hit with heavy penalties over an on-field clash in a Cricket Southern Bayside finals match.

A club has been fined and has the threat of deregistration hanging over its head over a finals dust-up in Cricket Southern Bayside.

And there were five suspensions – one for 12 months – over the incident in the Aspendale and Dingley elimination final at the Dingley ground in March.

Video footage showed a spectator running on to the field and pushing the umpire in the back, and players pushing and shoving.

Dingley won the game but it was marred by the ground invasion and a clash between players.

Police were called after the match, apparently by the parent of a player, and spoke to the umpire, who was shaken by the incident.

Several people told Leader a decision by a team-supplied umpire at square-leg set off the clash during the Aspendale innings.

Dingley players believed a clear stumping was given not out.

Owing to a shortage of umpires in Cricket Southern Bayside last season, only one official umpire stood in the match.

On the video, one spectator was heard to ask “What the f***k is going on?’’ during the ruckus.

Dingley scored 8-185 off its 40 overs and bowled out Aspendale for 144 to advance to the preliminary final.

CSB’s integrity panel investigated and found Aspendale guilty of breaching the spirit of cricket.

It deregistered the club for three years, suspending the penalty for three years, fined it $2000 and ruled it ineligible for finals next season.

CSB will also review club policies and administration requirements, and Aspendale must also complete the Good Sports Program.

Dingley was found guilty of the same offence and placed on a $2000 good behaviour bond.

It also has to undertake the Good Sports Program.

Christian Spirogiannis of Aspendale was nabbed for making inappropriate and deliberate contact with an umpire. He was suspended for two seasons (one year suspended until the end of 2022-23).

Aspendale’s Michael Sullivan was reported for serious misconduct and handed an eight-match penalty. A further 12-month ban was suspended for two seasons.

Santo Cortese of Aspendale was reported for serious misconduct. He copped a six-match suspension, with a further 12-month ban suspended for two years.

And Aspy’s Jack Sullivan was rubbed out for three matches for serious conduct.

Dingley all-rounder Calvin Barlow was also reported for misconduct and received a two-match suspension (one match suspended until the end of the 2021-22 season).

New Aspendale president Jamie Walker said the Dales accepted the sanctions and would strive to get better as a club.

“We’ve just taken responsibility to what led to the sanctions being put down,’’ he said.

“I mean, we can cry and moan all we like about it but at the end of the day we’ve just got to get better as a club and ensure we don’t put ourselves in a position where we can be questioned by CSB again.

“We’re looking at the silver lining and basically looking at it as a new starting point for the club.’’

Walker added: “Now that we’re not playing for points, we will be investing heavily in the future with our juniors.

“We’ve got 100 juniors at the moment, we’re one of the biggest junior clubs in Cricket Southern Bayside so we’re really just going to fast track them into senior cricket and that will put us in good stead for the future.’’

Cricket Southern Bayside has been contacted.