Cricket Southern Bayside Division 1 finals: Umpire pushed at Aspendale and Dingley match

A Cricket Southern Bayside semi-final was marred by a ground invasion in which the umpire was shoved from behind. Watch the footage.

Video footage has emerged of an on-field dust-up and an umpire being assaulted during a final in one of Melbourne’s leading suburban cricket competitions.

The footage shows a spectator running on to the ground and pushing the umpire in the back, and players pushing and shoving during the match between Dingley and Aspendale on Saturday.

The clubs were playing a semi-final in Division 1 of Cricket Southern Bayside at Souter Oval in Dingley.

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

Police were called to the ground 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 this season, only one official umpire stood in the semi-final.

One spectator is 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.

But Dingley captain Damien Jordan said the incident had left a bitter taste in his mouth.

He said it was ugly and had the potential to “really get out of control’’.

“In over 28 years of cricket … I’ve never seen anything like that, supporters storm on to the oval and start pushing and shoving players. Never,’’ he said.

“Sitting back after the game … it was a courageous victory for us. We’ve been undermanned all year and we showed a lot of character and we should have been up and about really enjoying that win. Instead we were all pretty shocked and shaken. It left an extremely sour taste.’’

Jordan spoke to the umpire after the match and said he was “pretty shaken up’’.

“He’s well experienced, and he handled the situation with absolute poise and a clear head.

“We were all shaken up. This thing could have easily erupted to an out-of-control and large brawl. It wasn’t good.’’

He said there had been tension earlier in the game when Aspendale challenged a not-out decision by the umpire supplied by Dingley.

Dingley chose to replace the umpire.

Jordan said most players from both sides had shaken hands after the game.

He said he had prepared a report for his club to assist competition officials with their investigation.

Dingley vice-president Marc King said the incident was “pretty embarrassing’’.

“We knew tensions were always going to be there,’’ he said.

“We didn’t expect a fight or anything but we did expect it to be quite hostile. And unfortunately what happened, happened.’’

King said Dingley had asked Cricket Southern Bayside for two umpires for the game, sensing there could be friction between the teams.

“The captains all went to a (league) meeting on Wednesday night, and we called it to their attention that we do need a second official (umpire).

“The rivalry is fierce.

“It’s what local cricket is about, but it’s also about knowing where the line is basically. And it was crossed on Saturday.’’

CSB chairman Rod Kimmitt said an investigation into the incident had begun.

“I’m certainly aware there was an incident through the game and our competition management group are investigating that incident, as they do all incidents of this nature,’’ he said.

“They’ll do an investigation and then make a recommendation of how it should be handled moving forward.’’

Kimmitt said, given it was finals time, the investigation would be “handled as quickly as possible’’.

Aspendale president Jason Orchard said it was “a disappointing day for cricket” and he was concerned for the welfare of his side’s teenage square leg umpire after he gave a stumping appeal not out.

“All the Dingley players ran over to the square leg umpire – and he’s only a 19-year-old kid – and they encircled him and started pushing him around and grabbed him, too. And it scared the hell out of him,” Orchard said.

“His younger brother, I think he’s 17, he was batting at the time and he ran over to protect his brother and as he was coming across there was more pushing and that, so the whole Dingley side, except maybe one or two, were involved.

“Per CSB rules if the person standing at square leg is an umpire, even though he’s got a club shirt on, he is an umpire and you can’t touch him.

“He got roughed around and I think he got grabbed by the neck at some stage … his father ran on to the ground to try and protect his son.

“I went on to the ground to try and calm the situation down as president, I said, ‘Guys let’s leave, let’s split up, this is bad for cricket for both teams and for cricket overall for the CSB’.

“You could hear the crowd yelling out, there was a lot of aggression from both clubs.

“There was a lot of pushing and things like that. I was worried it was going to get further. Luckily it did calm itself down.”