- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Collingwood's Nathan Brown tackles St Kilda's Stephen Milne during the AFL Round 19 match between the Collingwood Magpies and the St Kilda Saints at the MCG. GSP Images
For an organisation that continues to spruik its respect and responsibility mantra, the AFL haven’t come down hard enough in their punishment of Mick Malthouse and Stephen Milne following their heated quarter time exchange on Friday night.
The $7,500 fine for Malthouse and the $3,000 fine for Milne doesn’t seem to send a strong enough message or make much of a statement.
Whilst words are always going to be exchanged in the heat of the battle, both men clearly overstepped the mark. Malthouse’s “f***ing rapist” spray, aimed at Milne, has been attracting headlines for a very obvious reason.
Leaving aside the fact coaches in this day and age should know better than to confront a player from the opposing team, it was just plain bewildering to see a coach like Mick use those words.
Comparatively, Milne has had a lighter run with the media, but his actions certainly should not be downplayed. He was not only responsible for starting the verbal stoush, but he crossed an obvious boundary himself by calling Pies assistant Paul Licuria a “homosexual”.
The comment, labelled as homophobic by the AFL, showed a lack of maturity on Milne’s behalf and represented the kind of banter that footy really should have moved beyond by now.
In both cases the AFL had an opportunity to set a tough precedent, to draw a line in the sand, but unfortunately they’ve fallen well short of that.
Back in 2000, the league handed out a $7,500 fine to Kevin Sheedy for his throat slit gesture towards West Coast’s Mitchell White. In the same year, $2,000 fines were issued to Western Bulldogs players Tony Liberatore and Nathan Brown for calling another Eagle, Fraser Gehrig, a rapist.
An entire decade on, the AFL are still handing out similar punishments.
This is in spite of the fact we’ve seen in recent years the respect and responsibility initiative arise. We’ve seen the continuation of the AFL’s strong stance on racial and religious vilification. We’ve seen the league fine a coach (St Kilda’s Grant Thomas) $15,000 for merely criticising umpires. We’ve seen a player (Fremantle’s Des Headland) free to play despite being found guilty of striking and wrestling, because he was provoked by sexually derogative comments.
The landscape has changed.
Fining a coach $7,500 doesn’t have the same impact it did in 2000. Incidents of sensitive on-field sledging are taken with a higher level of seriousness. It’s no longer just “what happens on the field, stays on the field”.
But the intrigue of it all doesn’t stop there. What manages to make things more astounding is that Licuria has also copped a fine, and it’s the same value as Milne’s.
He was involved in the clash, sure, and maybe he’s deserving of a slap on the wrist. But when you factor in that he didn’t stoop to the same level as Malthouse and Milne in the words he chose, it’s a wonder how the league could reach the conclusion his fine should be the same as Milne’s.
It just further illustrates how the AFL have missed the mark in their punishment.
The actions of Malthouse and Milne needed to be strongly condemned, but it just seems as though the AFL simply haven’t done enough.