New rules could force Carl Ditterich out of AFL Hall of Fame

The AFL will come under pressure to boot former St Kilda and Melbourne champion Carl Ditterich from the Hall of Fame under rules it has only just introduced.

Carl Ditterich in action for the Saints in 1976.

The AFL could come under pressure to remove Carl Ditterich from the Hall of Fame under rules it introduced only last year.

The new rules on exclusion from the Hall of Fame were used to remove North Melbourne and Perth legend Barry Cable after a Western Australian judge found he had sexually assaulted a young girl hundreds of times during his playing career and raped her in Perth Football Club change rooms in 1971.

Four further women have made graphic and disturbing allegations against Cable of sexual and predatory behaviour toward them as children.

The Hall of Fame charter was altered in June last year by the AFL Commission, days before the judge handed down his finding against Cable.

The new section allows for the AFL Commission to suspend or remove any Hall of Fame inductee who is either charged with an indictable offence, found guilty of an indictable offence or is otherwise engaged in conduct which the commission considers is prejudicial to the interests of AFL.

They can also be suspended or removed if they engage in conduct which the commission “considers does, or which is likely to, bring AFL, the Hall of Fame inductee, any AFL club or Australian football into disrepute”.

The new rules were used to removed North Melbourne legend Barry Cable from the Hall of Fame.

Ditterich, 78, is facing multiple charges, including three counts of indecent assault and one count of gross indecency in the presence of a child under the age of 16.

It is alleged Ditterich assaulted the child in Heatherton in Melbourne’s southeast in August 1985.

AFL spokesman Jay Allen said the league was on Friday “made aware of historical police charges” against Ditterich.

“As the matter is with police, the AFL is not in a position to make any comment at the present time,” he said.

Under previous guidelines, prospective Hall of Fame inductees were judged on character before being added to the game’s elite group, but there were no mechanisms to allow them to be later removed on character grounds.

Carl Ditterich (left) is inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame by Allan Jeans in 2004. Picture: Getty

The woman who took her civil case against Cable to court said after the trial she would continue to deal with the “damage and trauma” he had inflicted.

“If the WA Director of Public Prosecutions had charged Cable on the police evidence presented in 1999, he would not have enjoyed another 25 years of fame and respect,” the woman, known as ZYX, said.

“For decades, I and the other women he preyed upon as children have had to deal with the damage and trauma he caused.

“Meanwhile, he has been honoured and promoted throughout sport and the wider community.

“He was never a legend. He was a pedophile and a liar who bullied and abused children.”

Cable, who has denied abusing the women, has never faced criminal charges.

The AFL’s decision on Cable came after what AFL chairman Richard Goyder described as “horrific” claims.

“The civil case and Judge Herron’s findings make it very clear that as per the rules we enacted … in terms of the Hall of Fame that this is the appropriate thing to do,” Goyder said, when announcing the decision to expel Cable.

“Our thoughts are with the woman involved and others who were courageous enough to come forward in the civil action and air the issues that occurred in their lives.

“It’s horrific, and I think it left the AFL with no option to do what we did.”