Carlton sent please explain regarding its cheer squad’s use of drums and chanting ‘umpire, you’re a w***er’

On the same night Dale Thomas was fined $7500 for abusing an umpire, Carlton’s week has taken another dive, with the Blues sent a please explain after their cheer squad chanted ‘umpire, you’re a w***er’.

Carlton players after their loss to GWS. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Carlton star Dale Thomas has been whacked with a $7500 fine for his verbal lashing of an umpire.

And the Blues on Tuesday night faced further sanction after the AFL sent them a “please explain’’ after their cheer squad chanted ‘’umpire, you’re a w***er’’ at the Collingwood game in Round 8.

The AFL confirmed the chant and the use of a drum during play, which is not allowed, were their two concerns.

“What happened is, they were using an instrument during the match, and they know they are not allowed to, because when they got approval at the start of the season, it was to be used after goals and not during play,’’ an AFL spokesman said.

“They were asked to stop by a match-day official and they didn’t.

“They used it in their chant, umpire you’re w***er.

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“They are getting a please explain to why they are doing that.’’

It’s believed the AFL has received several complaints about Carlton’s cheer squad this year.

The inquiry, which will stun football fans, came after a hellish 48 hours for the Blues.

They were trounced by GWS on Sunday and on Tuesday night Thomas was sanctioned for his abuse of the boundary umpire which was said to “strike at the heart of impartiality and fairness”.

The tribunal took just four minutes to hit Thomas, 31, with the fine — which was reduced from $10,000 given his guilty plea and apology to boundary umpire Michael Barlow.

Thomas did not fight the charge, nor the colourful comments that he directed at Barlow during the third quarter of Sunday’s 93-point loss to Greater Western Sydney, which were sparked by the whistleblower warning the Giants that they had to remove an extra player in their forward 50.

Dale Thomas speaks to the media after his $7500 fine. Picture: AAP Images

“He (Thomas) turned in my direction and said ‘you can’t tell them that, you can’t tell them that d … head’,” Barlow said in a statement to the tribunal.

“I didn’t respond. He kept yelling and said ‘you’re a f … ing cheat, you can’t tell them that, you’re a f … ing cheat’. Again, I did not respond, but took a mental note about what he had said.

“(At three-quarter time) Nathan Williamson the field umpire and I spoke to Thomas and told him he’d been reported for umpire abuse. His reaction was to say ‘what for?’. Then he asked ‘is it for what happened when the Giants had 7?’.”

Thomas said he was “extremely apologetic”.

“It was tremendously unfortunate that I put myself in that position, and I’m really disappointed in myself for doing that,” he said.

“Umpires are an amazing part of our game — without them we wouldn’t have a game, and for me to do that, as an experienced player, does not set a good example.”

The AFL asked for a $10,000 fine to be reduced to $7,500 given Thomas had complied with the system and personally apologised to Barlow via a phone call, which Barlow accepted.

But it did not hold back in its disdain for the comments.

Dale Thomas reacts to Carlton’s 93 point loss to GWS. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“There is no graver insult or accusation to level at an umpire than to accuse him or her of cheating,” league counsel Jeff Gleeson QC said.

“It strikes at the heart of the impartiality and fairness and integrity that umpires are required to bring to their role, do bring to their role and believe that they bring to their role.

“For a boundary umpire who effectively has no voice on the field to suffer a repeated accusation of cheating when he is doing no more than performing his role is a serious matter for the conduct and integrity of the game. Umpires are entitled to go about their duties confident in the knowledge that while players may become excitable, frustrated and verbal, there is a line that will never be crossed. Players should never be entitled to accuse any umpire of cheating without suffering a very significant sanction.

“A $10,000 fine reduced on guilty plea … is a very significant sanction. It is a large amount of money. It’s an amount of money that will resonate with the public, the football-going public and the players who will recognise that this is the sort of sanction, this is the severity of which you will be dealt, if you accuse an umpire of cheating.”

He said the addition of personal insults and foul language did not help the matter, declaring the comments to be “angry, abusive, direct and inappropriate”.

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“Thomas can’t even say in his defence that it was a brain snap having just suffered what he perceived to be a free kick given against him … while he was exhausted or while he was physically hurt or distressed,” Gleeson said

“There are very few if any mitigating factors for this abusive language.”