Thug attacked father and son in MCG footy brawl
A bogan Collingwood fan sparked a wild MCG brawl when he filmed frustrated Carlton fans leaving their seats early. Thug Craig Clark kicked and punched a father and son during the fight.
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A Collingwood fan who sparked a wild MCG crowd fight after taking his seat in the Carlton members area has fronted a magistrate, and walked away with a fine.
Craig Clark, 36, sat filming the dying moments of the Round 8 clash between the traditional rivals surrounded by frustrated Carlton fans as the game slipped away from the Blues.
When father and son Carlton fans Jack and Daniel Bennell decided to leave early, Clark turned his phone on them and continued filming.
Jack Bennell told Clark to stop filming him, and when he didn’t a fight followed.
The Bennells approached Clark who kicked Jack, sparking a fight between the trio that soon involved other patrons.
Other patrons moved away from the area to avoid the fight as the three men threw punches at each other.
After the father and son walked away, Clark followed them for about 30 metres and then punched Daniel to the head.
He was detained by security and later charged with a single count of affray.
At the Melbourne Magistrates Court today he pleaded guilty to the charge and was placed on a 12 month adjourned undertaking without conviction, and fined $1500.
Magistrate Simon Guthrie accepted Clark wasn’t the initial aggressor, but said there was never an excuse for violence.
“The community is sick to death of these sorts of incidents,” Mr Guthrie said.
“You may not have been the instigator but you pursued it.”
Michael Kuzilny, for Clark, said his client was a family man dedicated to his two children and wife, and had a limited prior history dating 15 years.
He tendered a letter of apology to the court in which Clark said: “the court will never see me again. This will never happen again. I won’t allow it to.”
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Mr Guthrie said if he did face court again for similar offending, he wouldn’t be treated with such leniency.
“Violence is just unacceptable. The consequences of the one punch are terrifying,” he said.
Jack and Daniel Bennell were each fined $500 and placed on a six month adjourned undertaking after admitting their part in the brawl last month.
A fourth man, not known to any of the men, was convicted, fined $1200, and also placed on an adjourned undertaking.
The crowd clash was the third of its kind in as many weeks earlier this year that prompted Victoria Police and the MCC to address the issue of violent footy fans.
A week earlier a disabled Hawthorn fan was punched following the team’s Round 7 game against Melbourne.