Eastern Football League vows the tribunal will get tough on off-the-ball incidents

PLAYERS who commit off-the-ball incidents can expect to face harsher penalties at the tribunal under an Eastern Football League crackdown.

The EFL will crack down on off-the-ball hits.

PLAYERS who commit off-the-ball incidents can expect to face harsher penalties at the tribunal under an Eastern Football League crackdown.

Clubs were recently told the league and tribunal would be taking a tougher stance on violent acts and players could expect bigger bans.

EFL chief executive Phil Murton said while off-the-ball hits were rare in the competition, it was important the league sent a strong message that deliberate acts of violence would not be tolerated.

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“Historically you probably didn’t get much more than eight or 10 weeks for anything you did on the footy field and I think community standards have shifted with the knowledge of concussion,” Murton said.

“It’s more for the real significant things, if there is something off the ball, you knock someone out or break someone’s jaw, you might have got eight or 10 weeks 10 years ago, but expect to see a bit more now.”

It coincides with neighbouring competition the Northern Football League dishing out a 16-week suspension, which triggered a life ban, last month.

Last year former AFL diversity manager and West Preston-Lakeside footballer Ali Fahour was hit with a 14-week ban and deregistered after reaching the 16-week threshold.

But Murton said EFL penalties would remain subjective on a case-by-case basis.

“We wanted to communicate something both to the clubs and tribunal and community in general so there wasn’t any confusion if circumstances do arise,” he said.

“That was probably the main reason behind why we sent the memo to clubs, otherwise if someone did get 15 weeks, most people would go, ‘that’s a fair bit’.

“It’s just a message that if you’re going to do something that is completely outside what most people would think is decent behaviour just because you’re on a footy field, then there is going to be pretty significant penalties.”