- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
One dead. One unconscious. One jailed. Las Vegas, the AFL has a problem. Port Adelaide player John McCarthy fell from a hotel on an end of season trip in Vegas. He died there.
Former West Coast Eagle Chad Fletcher stopped breathing after reportedly choking on vomit. He was revived there.
And ex-North Melbourne captain Wayne Carey was involved in a violent domestic incident. He was jailed there.
Las Vegas deserves its neon-lit reputation for nightlife and gambling.
But Port chief executive Keith Thomas believes McCarthy and 10 of his teammates were in Vegas for reasons other than booze and betting.
Thomas believes the 11 Port players were using Vegas as a base for a week-long end of season trip in the United States.
“It was a holiday, we don’t monitor holidays as such, we’re not across all of their itinerary, but I’m sure that was actually happening, yes,” Thomas told reporters on Monday.
Thomas doesn’t know how McCarthy came to die at 5.40am on a Sunday in a Las Vegas hotel – a hotel where the player wasn’t staying.
“It didn’t happen at the hotel they were staying at, which we don’t understand,” Thomas said.
He didn’t know why McCarthy and teammates became separated. Or if McCarthy had been drinking alcohol.
“It’s very difficult to know,” he said.
What is known is McCarthy’s death adds to a list of AFL player incidents in Las Vegas.
During West Coast’s 2006 end of season holiday in Vegas, Fletcher reportedly choked on his own vomit, stopped breathing, was rushed to hospital – and revived.
Fletcher spent four days in a Vegas hospital before flying home.
And Carey, while holidaying with his then-wife in 2004 in Vegas, was arrested for misdemeanour and held in custody for a night – but the local district attorney didn’t pursue the case.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.