Adelaide Oval pitch invader banned from games for life

A decision to put himself and players in harm’s way at the Adelaide Oval has cost a pitch invader dearly.

AFL boss Andrew Dillon has declared life bans will be the penalty for any unauthorised people who enter the field during games after the invader who ran on to the Adelaide Oval in round 2 was banned for life from all grounds.

Already banned from the Adelaide Oval for three years by the SACA, the man, who isn’t a club or AFL member, has been handed a lifetime ban from all AFL and AFLW matches, with the ban eligible to be reviewed after five years.

The Adelaide man was arrested and charged by South Australian police after jumping on the ground during play between the Adelaide Crows and Geelong, filming himself with his phone.

Adelaide’s Matt Crouch attempted to stop him and teammate Ben Keays knocked him down before security, who didn’t see him jumping the fence, pinned him down.

The SACA dished out the three-year ban before the AFL came down harder.

AFL general counsel Stephen Meade said labelled the behaviour “senseless, but it is unsafe and unlawful” and Dillon said after seeing an “uptick” in ground invasions the lifetime ban would be the penalty.

“We’ve been seeing a bit too much of that. We’ll continue to come down harshly,” he told 3AW.

“We’ll be continuing to enforce that level of sanction. It’s not something we want to see ... we want to stamp it out.

Crows forward Ben Keays brought down a pitch invader who ran onto Adelaide Oval during last night's clash with the Cats. https://t.co/5zYfOfGqUb#7NEWSpic.twitter.com/cIm3fJvbad

— 7NEWS Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) March 23, 2024

“They have been one, two and three years bans … there’s no excuse for it. We’ve hit the right level now.”

Dillon was adamant the ban could be enforced while Meade said work would be done with security at all ground to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

“If you choose to do it, then you will not only be given a significant fine, but you will have to deal with local authorities and ultimately lose the privilege of attending AFL matches,” he said.

“The AFL will continue to work with venues across in the country to ensure that there is a strong and consistent deterrence to this unsafe behaviour at all AFL and AFLW venues.”

The rogue invader was slammed by both coaches after play came to a sudden stop during the third quarter as he charged into the action before being subdued.