Brokenshire wants sporting thugs charged with assault Sarah Martin and Doug Robertson
From: The Advertiser
August 22, 2011 12:00AM
CRIMINAL assault charges for sporting violence will be introduced into State Parliament to target deliberate on-field thuggery.
In a bid to crack down on behind-play violence and attacks on umpires, Family First MLC Robert Brokenshire will move a private member's bill that imposes criminal penalties for on-field affrays.
Such laws could cover
incidents such as a vicious brawl involving up to 50 players and spectators at a North Adelaide soccer game yesterday.
A player suffered head injuries when he was hit from behind with a bottle and more than a dozen others had cuts and bruises.Mr Brokenshire said general assault law was not adequately addressing violence on the sporting field because it was a grey area where police were reluctant to intervene.
He said yesterday's brawl was a timely example of why legislation was needed.
"Here is another example where someone could have been killed," he said.
"It is time that umpires and players have the same protection as any citizen would if they happened to be hit with an aluminium pole outside a hotel."
Mr Brokenshire also cited the case of a recent attack on Sturt football player James Wundke, which resulted in him being concussed and admitted to hospital.
Wundke said he would not ask for the police to investigate the incident, which left him unconscious in a match against Glenelg last weekend, but said players needed to be sent a message that deliberate assault on the field was not acceptable. "People get king-hit at the pub and it's on the front page....there's no reason why it should be treated differently," he said.
Mr Brokenshire said some incidents were "just thuggery under the cover of a sporting match".
"What I am trying to do is uncloud an issue that allows people to commit serious assault that would clearly be a criminal assault off the field."
"I understand that people like to see a melee and a bit of pushing and shoving, that's part of Aussie Rules, but there is a difference when it is blatant or deliberate, malicious assault on umpires or players."
In the incident at the University of Adelaide's North Adelaide Sporting Grounds yesterday, witnesses said the Seaford Rangers goalkeeper was "smashed from behind" by an opposition Maiwand player and another Seaford player was knocked out when he was hit several times with a metal pole during the wild brawl.
The injured player regained consciousness shortly after.
A doctor at the scene provided first aid before ambulances took the man and two others to hospital for treatment.
The fight broke out on the field between players then spilled over to include spectators.
"(A Maiwand player) was swinging the pole around and the guy went down, out cold, and the (goalie) was smashed with a bottle on the back of his neck," a witness said.
Last night Adelaide CIB detectives were interviewing witnesses and players.Mr Brokenshire's legislation, to be drafted after a discussion White Paper, would not just apply to football, but to all sporting codes. Mr Brokenshire wants specific charges for coaches who incite violence, violence against umpires, and deliberate behind-play assaults.
Family First is calling on the Government to address the issue and support legislative change, given the Labor Party's 2010 election platform stated: " Labor will support legislative measures that ensure that violence on the sporting ground is treated with the seriousness it merits."
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/dozen-hurth-after-soccer-brawl-involving-players-and-fans-of-seaford-rangers-and-maiwand/story-e6frea83-1226119170821