Darwin player and Southern Districts official handed suspensions for off-field fight

A premier grade cricketer and a club official have been suspended for their involvement in an ugly off-field fight.

A Premier Grade cricketer and a rival club official have been given lengthy bans following a fight at Kahlin Oval after a change of innings during a game last month.

The off-field fight occurred between Darwin player Connor Hawkins and Southern Districts’ vice-president Brett Whelan as Districts declared its innings closed in their July 8 A-Grade match.

The matter was initially referred to peak body NT Cricket from the Darwin Cricket management committee.

However, it was then referred to the national sports tribunal after a meeting between clubs and NT Cricket, where it was recently withdrawn after an outcome was “agreed between those involved”.

Whelan has been removed from the club’s executive and stood down from all duties for eight weeks.

The off-field fight happened at Kahlin Oval. Picture: Che Chorley

Meanwhile, Hawkins has been suspended from the Darwin competition for a period of 12 weeks as a result of the incident, which came as his opposition declared their innings at 9/247.

An NT Cricket statement initially said the specific details of the incident would not be released at this point.

“NT Cricket is committed to ensuring every player, spectator, official and administrator has the best possible experience when participating in cricket across the Northern Territory,” the statement read.

“There is no place for violence or anti-social behaviour in our game.”

The pair will have to complete a “reflective report” on the events of July 8 and the lessons they learned and steps taken to ensure that kind of behaviour will not occur again.

The player and the official will also have to complete “Play by the Rules”, Ethics and Ethical Decision Making in Sport, Walking the Talk – Putting Integrity into Action and Harassment and Discrimination courses.