Real estate agent Kane Ashwood charged over country footy ‘dog act’

A Victorian country footy veteran is facing potential jail time after allegedly coward-punching his opponent, knocking the 19-year-old out.

Bairnsdale real estate agent Kane Ashwood is facing potential jail time after clobbering a 19-year-old opponent in a brutal off-ball incident during an East Gippsland Football League fixture on Saturday.

Ashwood, 36, is a veteran midfielder and former coach of the Lindenow Football Club and was on Sunday morning charged with recklessly causing serious injury to Paynesville Football Club’s Caleb Marsh.

The charge carries a maximum 15-year jail term.

Marsh was playing his first year in the club’s senior side after starting the season in the reserves.

Police and Ambulance crews were at the ground within minutes.

Spectators said Marsh appeared to be unconscious “before he hit the ground” after Ashwood delivered a powerful coward punch from behind, having run towards the incident from up to 30 metres away.

There had been a series of minor scuffles during the fixture, which Lindenow won 14.18 (102) to 5.9 (39).

“There was nothing really going on, there was a bit of pushing and shoving,” a spectator told the Herald Sun.

The real estate agent faces potential jail time.

He was bailed and will face court in August.

The incident was well away from play.

Marsh’s grandfather, David, said it was “the worst incident I have ever seen on a footy field”.

He said Ashwood’s conduct amounted to “an absolute dog act”.

Marsh, an apprentice tradesman, spent the night in a neck brace at Bairnsdale Hospital being treated for a severe concussion.

Early tests cleared him of spinal and neck injuries but he was in severe pain when doctors removed a neck brace on Sunday, prompting a further round of tests.

Neither Ashwood nor his club would comment, but the club has asked the league to delay a tribunal hearing until after Ashwood’s criminal case concludes.

Paynesville officials have asked for a tribunal hearing to go ahead this week.

Under league rules, Ashwood will be unable to return to the field until his case goes before a tribunal, meaning he will sit out at least the rest of the season if the league agrees to his club’s request.

Ashwood, a former concreter who has represented Australia at indoor soccer, has been bailed to appear at Bairnsdale Magistrates’ Court on October 19.

The two sides face each other next in the last round of the regular season on August 13.