MPFNL 2019: Paddy Swayn handed seven-game suspension for umpire abuse
Pines will appeal a seven-game suspension handed to respected MPFNL coach Paddy Swayn for umpire abuse after a heated clash against Edithvale-Aspendale.
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Leading Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League coach Paddy Swayn has been hit with a seven-match suspension for abusing umpires.
Swayn, 49, who steered Pines to the Division 1 premiership after a classic grand final against Sorrento last year, was yellow-carded and reported during last Saturday’s match against Edithvale-Aspendale.
He appeared at the tribunal at Frankston Park last night, pleading not guilty to “abusing, threatening, insulting or using obscene language’’ towards an umpire.
The tribunal found him guilty and suspended him for seven games, meaning he is unable to coach for the rest of the home-and-away series and the first week of finals.
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An emotional Swayn told Leader this morning: “I’m shattered, I’m embarrassed, all those things.
“I’ve got a job that involves me dealing with sport and umpires every day (he is a sports teacher at Moorooduc Primary School) and to think I’m seen as someone who would do that and say that to an umpire is … yeah, I don’t want that on my record.
“But it’s there now, unfortunately. I’m shattered and I feel really embarrassed. We’re on school holidays at the moment. I don’t know how I’m going to go when school’s back. It’s going to be tough. You walk around and everyone knows what’s going on.
“I haven’t slept since Saturday night. You keep going over it….’’
Swayn is one of the MPNFL’s most respected and informed coaches — he is involved in the Melbourne Next Generation Academy and a mentor program overseen by the AFL South East — and his suspension has flattened the Pythons.
They will appeal the penalty.
Swayn copped a yellow card after an exchange with an umpire in the first quarter of last Saturday’s game.
He said he was asking the umpire to take control of the game because there had been off-the-ball hits and he feared a player would be seriously injured if it continued.
“I felt like I had the welfare of the umpires and the players at hand,’’ Swayn said.
“I told the umpire he needed to take control of the game, pay some soft free kicks, because guys were getting whacked left, right and centre and someone was going to get hurt.
“I did point to him, I don’t deny that. But I never called anyone a loser or a child or said anyone was going to get the sack.’’
Edithvale-Aspendale coach and former Melbourne defender Graeme Yeats came out after the game and accused the Pines bench of trying to bounce the umpires.
“From where I stood, it was clearly an intimidating attitude from their bench towards the umpires,” Yeats told Leader last Sunday.
“It was really disappointing because it was a really young umpire. It was a really bad look for the game. It was a throwback from 20 years ago.”
Swayn said this morning: “That was off the mark. The free kick count was 19 to seven so I don’t know how he thought we intimidated the umpires.’’
AFL South East CEO John Anderson attended the match and said it was full of “little niggles”.
“I don’t think the umpires did a bad job in the circumstances; there didn’t appear to be any intimidation in terms of decision-making,” he said.
Swayn said he hoped his appeal could be heard as early as Friday night.
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