Footy violence: Media lawyer Justin Quill on football thugs

When you cross the white line it’s expected there is going to be physical contact. In fact, being belted comes with the territory — but there is a limit.

Physical contact on the footy field is to be expected. Most of the time it’s part of the rough and tumble of the game — but there times when it goes too far.

No one likes to see the police getting involved in sport. But equally, no one likes to see assaults committed on our sporting fields. And therein lies the balancing act for authorities trying to deal with transgressions of the rules of football that looks like a criminal assault.

I’m all for the book to be thrown at football thugs. But not all assaults on the football field amount to football thuggery.

A punch in a pub is simply not the same as a punch on the football field.

When you run on to a football field, you’re consenting to contact in a way you wouldn’t be when you go to the pub. And that even includes a level of contact that is outside the rules. It is understood there will be high contact, pushes in the back and sometimes even punches thrown as part of the hurly burly of a contest to win the ball or tackle an opponent. That’s why we have umpires. And tribunals. It’s almost expected that from time to time players will go beyond the rules. From a legal perspective, footballers consent to contact not only within the rules but also contact outside the rules as long as it’s not so far outside the rules as to make it totally unreasonable or unexpected.

Media lawyer Justin Quill: Not all assaults on the football field amount to football thuggery. Picture Rebecca Michael.

A punch thrown to get front position in a marking contest is very different to a coward punch 100m off the ball.

The first is probably consented to for the purposes of the law of assault — but obviously should result in a free kick and most likely a suspension. It could not be suggested that a player consents to an off-the-ball coward punch. That is pure football thuggery. There’s no place for it in modern football — morally or legally. That’s when I’m fine with the police stepping in and throwing the book at the player. But unless it’s something so far outside the rules to make it totally unreasonable, I say pay the free, suspend the player, but don’t call the police!

Justin Quill is a media lawyer and partner with major law firm Thomson Geer which acts for News Corp

Twitter - @justinquill