- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Campbell Brown’s four-week holiday for his vicious back elbow to the face of Western Bulldog, Callan Ward, last weekend has prompted the AFL to consider ways to tighten off-the-ball indiscretions. Indiscretion? It was nothing short of premeditated thuggery.
If he behaved like that on the street, he’d be a guest of Her Majesty.
The Gold Coast hardman was dead-set lucky to cop just four weeks and evade even more for his overly heavy collision with another hardman in Barry Hall.
On the Sportsline program on Sky last night, Carlton legend Anthony Koutoufides was quick to support any move to stamp it out.
“We really want to eradicate off-the-ball indiscretions because it’s not the image we want to portray to the younger guys and through the ranks”.
“Kouta”, a prize new addition to the Sportsline team, added that Brown’s elbow was aimed too high. Had it been lower, and caught Ward across the chest, he may have avoided any penalty.
He was just echoing the mindset of the AFL – anything goes off-the-ball, so long as it doesn’t look bad.
“Kouta’s” honesty last night was refreshing. He’s playing the game off the field as he did on it during his stellar career of 278 games for Carlton – with stints as captain, leading goal-kicker, premiership winner in 1995, the Leigh Matthews Medal winner in 2000, and an All-Australian.
When “Kouta” speaks, the AFL world listens. And so it should.
But what about the Laws of Australian Football 2011?
Law 15.4.3, sub-headed Permitted Contact, clearly states that …
A Player may make contact with another Player:
(a) by using their hip, shoulder, chest, arms, or open hand provided the football is no more than 5 metres away from the Player.
(b) by pushing the other Player with an open hand in the chest, or side of the body, provided the football is not more than 5 metres away from the Player.
By any standards, that’s crystal clear. NO contact whatsoever is permitted if the ball is more than 5 metres away. So what’s the point of having a Law, and have three umpires, all coaches, and all players, totally ignore it?
Television viewers rarely see the constant niggle between players – the pushing, the shoving, the elbowing, well off camera – and well off the ball, a lot more than 5 metres away – try 50-plus, and some.
I asked “Kouta” last night about the niggle that is rampant in the AFL, but never punished.
“The niggle will never ever stop, Lordy. It’s part of the game, it’s to get under the skin of the great players.
“There are guys who have particular roles to go out there to put the stars off their game. The niggle will never be out of the game”.
More fascinating truth from “Kouta”, but it begs the question: why is the AFL suddenly considering a crack down on off-the-ball indiscretions when the Law book has covered just that for as long as VFL-AFL has been played?