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Newcastle coach Gary van Egmond could be banished to the stands over his part in a melee after last night’s A-League game against Perth.
The Football Federation of Australia (FFA) tonight confirmed van Egmond had breached the its national code of conduct when he confronted Glory striker Adrian Trinidad after the 2-2 draw at Members Equity Stadium.
The FFA has written to van Egmond, giving him 24 hours to explain his actions. It will decide his fate later this week.
The Jets coach was furious after Trinidad drew a penalty in the dying stages, enabling Perth to equalise, keeping both sides on 11 points at the bottom of the table.
After the game, van Egmond angrily confronted the Argentinean, which sparked a melee involving players and coaches from both sides.
If the FFA is not satisfied with van Egmond’s response, he could be fined or even suspended from the sidelines, like the then Adelaide coach, John Kosmina, was twice in the 2006-07 season.
Kosmina was banished to the stands for four games for grabbing Melbourne Victory skipper Kevin Muscat by the throat during a match in 2006, and then suspended from the sidelines for five games in 2007 for abusing referee Matthew Breeze.
Perth were also disappointed an opposition coach confronted one of their players. Glory chief executive Scott Gooch wrote to the FFA, although the club did not lodge a formal complaint.
“We were disappointed that the coach vented his frustrations at one of our players and pointed the finger,” Gooch said.
“He’s playing a game of football with a lot of passion and I suppose from a coaching point of view if he’s claiming that one of our players is showing a lack of sportsmanship he probably needs to look a little bit closer to home.
“… That sort of thing is not good for the game and it shouldn’t have happened.”
Trinidad’s penalty – after he fell to the ground when challenged by Jets captain Jade North – came amid calls for an end to “diving” in the A-League.
It also came just weeks after Kosmina, now coaching Sydney, accused Trinidad of “milking” an incident that led to Iain Fyfe being issued a red card.
Perth midfielder Adriano Pellegrino today said his teammate played within the rules, but admitted Trinidad was not one of the competition’s most popular players.
“I don’t think Adrian is the most liked player at the moment in the A-League,” he said.
“He reacted not so well after the game.
“He was a bit upset because everyone (the Jets players and coach) was barking up at him.
“It’s hard for him, he can’t really speak good English and a few of the boys were having a word to him after the penalty happened.”
In a season that continues to get worse for Newcastle, following Edmundo Zura’s return home to Ecuador last week, the Jets also fared worse on player suspensions.
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