Glenn’s 10: After another Luis Suarez bite, we look at bizarre trips to the tribunal
IN the wake of Luis Suarez’s biting charge, we look at some of the more bizarre Australian football tribunal charges in history.
Glenn McFarlane
Don't miss out on the headlines from Glenn McFarlane. Followed categories will be added to My News.
IN the wake of Luis Suarez’s biting charge at the World Cup, we put our thinking caps on to recall some of the more bizarre Australian football tribunal charges in history.
Incredibly, only once in the history of senior VFL-AFL football has a player been found guilty and suspended for biting.
It was West Coast’s Chris Lewis, who was the subject of a special AFL investigation in 1991 over biting allegations on Demon Todd Viney. He copped a three-week penalty and the incident and subsequent investigation drove a wedge between the two clubs for a period of time.
Here we have dusted off the archives and found 10 other bizarre charges footballers have faced over the years.
1. BITING AN OPPOSITION PLAYER’S TESTICLES
This was at state league level, not the AFL, but few will ever forget the time former Sydney and then Port Melbourne player Peter Filandia was suspended for 10 weeks for biting an opposition player’s testicles in 2002. Ouch. Filandia claimed he could not breathe when he became tangled with Chad Davis and bit as “a reflex action”. “It was a split-second decision,” Filandia told the tribunal panel, which came a year after John Hopoate was banned for 12 weeks for poking a finger up an opponent’s backside. Then, there was the case of Bulldog Brad Wira, who was suspended for two weeks for squeezing Garry Hocking’s testicles.
2. HARASSING AND INTIMIDATING A FIELD UMPIRE
St Kilda’s Craig O’Brien vehemently denied claims that he tail-gated and partly followed home an umpire who had testified against him at a Victorian State Football League tribunal hearing in 1992. O’Brien had initially been banned for three games, but a later hearing saw him banned for another seven games. It was alleged O’Brien called out to the umpire in the MCG’s Great Southern Stand underground car park after the original hearing and followed the field umpire part of the way home in a grey utility.
3. BRIBERY
Carlton players Doug Fraser and Alex ‘Bongo’ Lang were sensationally banned from football after being found guilty of taking bribes in 1910. It was alleged the players were caught “red-handed” and stood down from a semi-final match before copping bans at a specially convened League investigation tribunal. The penalties of 99 games each remain the longest bans in VFL-AFL history.
4. GOAL POST SHAKING
Six players, including Essendon’s Dustin Fletcher (fined $600), former Saint Stewart Loewe (fined $1000) and former Lion Darren Wheildon (fined $600), have been charged with the unusual offence of goal post shaking. Wheildon was dumbfounded when he was reported in 1993 after shaking the post while a teammate was shooting for goal. His coach Robert Shaw laughed: “He’s come up with another one, ‘Doc’. It was either going to be the 60-metre drop kick goal at the 29-minute mark or a report for shaking the goal post. I wasn’t sure which one. But God bless him, he’s an entertainer.”
5. FACE CLAWING AND SCRATCHING
Western Bulldogs-Brisbane matches in the late 1990s were certainly a bit different. Brownlow Medallist Tony Liberatore copped three weeks for face clawing Brisbane’s Craig McRae in 1999, but was cleared of face scratching another Lion Steven Lawrence a year earlier. But his teammate Jose Romero got two weeks for scratching Brisbane’s Simon Black in 2000.
6. RUBBING MUD INTO THE FACE OF AN OPPONENT
Richmond’s Brendan Bower picked a very suitable location in 1986 when he was reported for deliberately rubbing mud into the face of an opponent, St Kilda’s Phil Narkle. The venue was, of course, Moorabbin, which housed it’s fair share of mud. His punishment: a reprimand.
7. WEARING A RING ON YOUR FINGER
Hard to believe that Geelong’s Russell Renfrey actually received a reprimand for being caught wearing a ring on his finger during play in a game at Kardinia Park in 1947. Whatever happened to the umpire checking your boots and checking for rings before a game?
8. UNREASONABLE AND UNNECESSARY CONTACT WITH AN INJURED PLAYER
In perhaps the most famous case of sibling rivalry, Geelong captain Joel Selwood narrowly escape a one-match ban for pushing his older brother, Adam, in 2012. After the pair collided, Joel shoved his winded brother to the ground and the match review panel offered him a reprimand with a guilty plea. St Kilda’s hard man Steven Baker had the rather long and unusual charge thrust upon him after annoying the hell out of Geelong’s Steve Johnson in 2010. He got two weeks for this offence.
9. UNAVAILABLE FOR STATE OF ORIGIN MATCH WITHOUT A SUFFICIENT EXCUSE
Incredibly, Hawthorn’s Alan Martello copped a one-game ban for not making himself available for an end-of-season State-of-Origin match after the 1978 season. Martello could not provide a suitable excuse. His teammate Leigh Matthews was also charged, but managed to come up with an appropriate excuse.
10. RUNNING AWAY FROM AN UMPIRE, TRYING TO REMOVE GUERNSEY
Sounds very strange, but South Melbourne’s Ted Whitfield had a good excuse. It was the 1945 Bloodbath Grand Final against Carlton and in the crazy moments of the brawl he was about to be reported for abusive language and for kicking the ball away after a free kick was given. But the umpire then alleged that Whitfield attempted to pull his jumper over his head to avoid being reported. Whitfield later said he had been trying to swap jumpers with his opponent. He refused to turn up to the tribunal and was given a 12-month ban.
Miracles, heartache: Watch the 25 biggest AFL moments this century
Dom Sheed steals the 2018 flag? Carey vs the Roos? Bulldogs win it all? Some of the biggest moments in AFL history have come this century. Watch our top 25 and have your say on the best.
Buddy, Gaz, Dusty? The 10 best AFL players this century ranked
Think naming the team of the century was hard? Jon Ralph and Glenn McFarlane have narrowed that down to 10 and determined the defining player of the 21st century. HAVE YOUR SAY.