We’ve all seen the footage of John Bourke, the Collingwood reserves player who kicked an opponent in the groin, then shoved an umpire to the ground, belted a runner, then jumped the fence and attacked a Swans fan.
Bourke’s nadir has featured in a thousand low-light reels and earned him a ban of ten years plus 16 games (later reduced to seven years, but the only bloke who could have come back after that was Paul Salmon).
It was one of those extraordinary brain snaps that comes along once in a generation (in a given code), on par with Angel Matos kicking a Taekwondo referee in the face at the 2008 Olympics – thus demonstrating that he had, in fact, recovered from a broken toe in time to avoid disqualification.
» SEND-OFF RULE IS SIMPLY NOT REQUIRED
The interesting thing is that Bourke was taken off by his own club, at considerable personal cost to the runner who copped one in the face. Had the Pies reserves coach decided, in a moment of unfathomable madness, to leave Bourke on the field – the umpire, once he got up, would have had no formal power to eject the offending player, unless he ran a message reporting the assault to the two cops who’d drawn the long straw that day at the station and got to go to the footy.
The greatest sport on earth is a hotly contested title, given the existence of hurling and ice hockey, but one that has been held by Aussie rules since Wills and Harrison. Is the absence of a send-off rule the game’s one flaw? The upside is a strong deterrent. The downside is a mistaken send-off would be disastrous.
Since Bourke’s bad day at the office, the number of incidents that could have potentially warranted a send-off has been small.
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Despite the death penalty having been abolished in New South Wales for 39 years, Tony Lockett publicly executed Peter Caven at the SCG in 1994. The flying 110kg elbow directed at the Swan’s face put him out of action for 12 weeks. Lockett continued playing that day, slotting 11 goals as the Saints came from 51 points down early in the last term to snatch an extraordinary win.
Clearly the course of the game was radically changed. Lockett got eight weeks. Neither side came close to making the finals.
At least Caven’s face had been somewhere near the ball when Lockett destroyed it. In 2008 Cameron Ling had well and truly got the handball away when Dean Solomon threw up the elbow, taking Geelong’s best tagger out of the game. At that point in the first term the Cats and Dockers were level.
It looked like a cold, calculated move, amidst a general physical siege by the mediocre Dockers against the reigning premiers, who were 13-1 going into the game. Freo coach Mark Harvey would later boast his side had made the Cats “vulnerable” in the first term of a game the Dockers went on to lose by 74 points. Solomon’s attempt to change the result had fallen flat. He also got an eight-week ban.
‘Saint’ Steven Baker laid siege to Steve Johnson in 2010, striking the dangerous forward a number of times and even trying to hit his strapped, injured finger. The deliberate nature of the offences were so blatant the tribunal gave Baker a nine-week rest from the game.
And of course, there was the tragi-comic end of Alistair Lynch, who in the 2004 grand final threw a number of ragged haymakers at Darryl Wakelin. Lynch was 36 and had done a quaddy early in the game.
After Lynch’s copped a ten-week ban, the league moved to double penalties incurred in a grand final. The logic was solid but there was one fundamental flaw – if a player knows they are playing their last game, a 20-week ban is as meaningless as a ten-week ban. A player could still plan, as Solomon and Baker so clearly did, to take a particular opponent out of the equation, then continue to play the rest of the match and retire with a premiership medal arising from their contribution.
In 2009 a retiring Saint could have belted Harry Taylor early and changed the course of history. Indeed, a number of ghastly hypotheticals are thrown up by the incidence of retiring players in close grand finals. WAFL coach Mal Brown certainly deployed the tactic at least once.
Is it then reasonable to suggest a send-off rule be introduced, only for grand finals and only in the most extreme cases?
We are fortunate that the sort of thing that would warrant a send-off has been remarkably rare in the grand finals of our great game. Yes, grand finals are hard, but a generally hard within limits. For example, Mark Yeates targeted Dermott Brereton in the opening seconds of the 1989 grand final, but it was fair shirtfront (without a raised arm or head-high contact), despite the broken ribs.
Retiring players are loathe to end on a low note, and coaches reluctant to ask such a thing of them. So far, a sense of honour and fair play has protected VFL/AFL grand finals (apart from 1945) from any particularly heinous violence. Until that changes, a send-off rule is not warranted.
Rocko
Roar Guru
GT - I agree with you, but thought I would throw in another potential consideration. What if one of the said blatant hits or 'dog acts' actually permanently incapacitates an opposition player for a game - should that perpetrator be sent off? My example is the Barry Hall punch on Brent Staker. Again - thankfully does not happen enough to be warranted.
Jack
Guest
Greatest game on earth Lol
Kavvy
Guest
I don't think there are too many times you'd want to pull out the red card. Jonas and maybe Mayes this year. Vickery on Cox last year possibly. Hall on Staker and Lynch throwing Hayemakers in the GF back in the day are obvious ones. not enough to warrant drastic change. If the game regressed massively in turns of thug acts then maybe but right now there's no need for it The game isn't anything like the 80's where it would have been busted out 10 times a year or more if it existed then. The AFL are doing plenty to protect the head these days too. There's def an argument for it more at lower levels where the standard is lower and the game is slower and more thugs masquerading as athletes might exist, not really an i$$ue at AFL level
Robbie
Guest
Steven Baker is hard done by to be included on this list. His suspension was one of the stupidest ever handed down by the MRP (and that's saying something!)
Penster
Guest
5 premierships from 8 grand finals, one of the most exciting players of his generation ......... yeah what a flog.
andyl12
Guest
But Platten was as clean as they come.
Axle an the Guru
Guest
Dipierdomenico deserved all he ever got, one of the dirtiest players going around, just ask Alan Stoneham, the day he won the Brownlow was the day they should have removed the word Fairest from the award.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
If a zizou style head butt to the chest ever occured, I think the players and umps would fall over laughing - punishment enough.
Penster
Guest
It was insanel. The injuries to Bruns were horrific. The sport was prone to violence back then but that's the worst example I can think of, although I usually only paid attention to Hawthorn matches in the 70's and 80's.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
More than one per decade at least.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Because it might be useful at amateur level, but it's not needed at AFL level.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
GT wasn't directing the comment at you, I saw you hadn't done that, but those who do argue in favour of send-off rules generally rely on one-off incidents - and you can count on one hand the number of such incidents over the last 35 years. Sorry, I should have been clearer.
Penster
Guest
You wouldn't have even heard about that if he hadn't become a mega coaching success story. Memories of his onfield transgressions would have faded along with his lack lustre playing career and 1000's of others like him. But he's a very tall AFL poppy, so go ahead and cut him down if you can.
Bill
Guest
Agreed. We need james brayshaw to publicly declare what an imbecile he is. And not sure why goodes was seen as a martyr and its fair game for Lindsay.
Pope Paul VII
Guest
As if Dermie never played for a free kick? Or gleefully clocked someone in the noggin, sometimes with his foot. He's a clown. Rohan Connolly pointed out Lindsay is 25th for head high free awarded. A massive 4 in 10 rounds. And a big shout out to hypocritical Sydney fans who booed Thomas mercilessly for penalty pulling, which was the main defence of the Goodesy booers.
Vocans
Guest
How many assaults do you need before the problem demands an answer? There seems to be a lot of denial in the idea that nothing should be done on the day. The GF, the biggest day of the year is the last day. A game that is not fair is a travesty of a sport. We can't be perfect but we can cover as many bases as possible. Jonas has lost 6: he might have been grateful to a rule that gave him real pause on the day.
BigAl
Guest
I remember Ron Barassi detailing how Brereton had a reputation as a 'sniper' amongst the complete AFL/VFL playing and coaching fraternity - i.e. he'd hover around the edges of packs waiting for someone to break clear and then blindside him and BANG!!!
Vocans
Guest
Yes, we don't have the kind of professional fouls that soccer does. Those can affect the outcome of a game obviously. It's to protect against assault and injury arising from assault. It is to protect the outcome of games from the rare use of assault to gain direct advantage, or an indirect one in the case of thuggery pure and simple. There should be a rule for this in case there is a need for it on a given occasion.
BigAl
Guest
Google tells me Clarko was a Phys. Ed. teacher, so . . . you know... Interestingly, the third para from the top in Clarko's Google entry is all about how he physically educated poor Ian Aitken in the notorious "Battle Of Britain" - well before anything about his coaching successes !
Paul D
Roar Guru
I’d say it’s more the latter – if Geelong were a better side than the Hawks at that time it stands to reason they would have tried to win it without resorting to the bash tactics. The fact they felt compelled to, means to me that they felt they couldn’t complete with the Hawks in a purely football sense and therefore they needed to try and influence the outcome through physicality. I mean, without Gary Ablett that day they wouldn’t have got within cooee. He kicked 9, the next best for Geelong was 2. Hawks had five guys kick 3-4 goals. That to me indicates a superior football side with more avenues to goal, regardless of tactics at the time.