Yarra Junior Football League slaps St Mary’s Greensborough club with $1500 bond

A SUBURBAN footy league has placed a junior club on a $1500 bond as it tries to stamp out ugly parent syndrome and poor crowd behaviour.

Yarra Junior Football League has slapped St Mary’s Greensborough with a $1500 bond over poor crowd behaviour. Picture: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images

A SUBURBAN footy league has placed a junior club on a $1500 bond until the end of 2018 as it tries to stamp out ugly parent syndrome and poor crowd behaviour.

Yarra Junior Football League has slapped St Mary’s Greensborough with the sentence amid a spate of violence and intimidation in grassroots Victorian competitions.

St Mary’s junior president Paul Tobin said the club had effectively been placed on a good behaviour bond and would have to cough up the cash if anyone acted out on the sidelines.

“We’ve got 500 kids playing so we’re dealing with 1000 parents,’’ he said.

“To have that over our head for another 12 months is difficult because we only need one parent to step out of line.’’

Mr Tobin said the penalty was imposed after “constant verballing of umpires’’, “coaches barracking rather than coaching’’ and supporters questioning on-field decisions.

“We had a couple of parents and a couple of people that stepped out of line,’’ he said.

“Nothing too bad but the league put this on us to be a bit more careful of how people behave.’’

It is the same league that made headlines in June when North Melbourne great Glenn Archer was charged over an incident at an under-15s match between Banyule and Park Orchards.

And it comes as sexist and violent slurs against a young female umpire on Sunday are investigated by South East Juniors.

The umpire was left in tears after allegedly being verbally abused and threatened at the under 14s grand final between Tooradin-Dalmore and Berwick Springs.

She claims someone threatened to “rip out” her ponytail, warned her to seek protection because “there’s going to be a fight” and told she was not fit to umpire due to her gender.

A witness told the Herald Sun several umpires at the match, including two teenage boys, were left “visibly shaken”.

Other recent shock incidents in grassroots games include:

■ A teen footballer allegedly assaulted by spectators at Sunday’s under-17s grand final between East Burwood and Rowville Knights.

■ An umpire allegedly assaulted after the Western Regional Football League under-15s grand final.

■ Reserves and seniors matches between Braybrook and Sanctuary Lakes abandoned and two players taken to hospital after on-field attacks at the weekend.

■ A runner aged in his 30s suspended for 18 months for abusing a teenage umpire in an under 11s Eastern Football League match.

Mr Tobin said leagues should consider tougher action against parents and young umpires deserved protection.

“I know where the league is coming from because 80 per cent of their umpires are under the age of 18 and they’re trying to take a stand,’’ he said.

Reminders to parents and club officials not to get involved in on or off-field incidents have been posted on the St Mary’s website.

“Please remember that this is junior sport and while it is competitive, the focus should always be on participation, fun, fairness and respect,’’ the post states.

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