SAAFL cracking down on violence

[kickinit]

“Many clubs go all season without report,and club officials and coaches need toensure they play the game safety and any player only interested in harming othersshould not be on the playing list.

“For this reason, four clubs, which willnot be named, are about to be approached by the League with a please explain, as their player offences are at unacceptable levels.”The League will be penalising clubsthat do not meet their‘duty of care’ for player safety, including clubderegistration, fines andloss of premiership points over all gradeswithin that club.

So just saw this on the SAAFL footy news. So what's everyones thought's? I think it's good as long as the club has the chance to do something about it internally first. Then if the club is still having troubles or if they do nothing then the SAAFL should step in.

[Phantom Gossiper]

“Many clubs go all season without report,and club officials and coaches need toensure they play the game safety and any player only interested in harming othersshould not be on the playing list.

“For this reason, four clubs, which willnot be named, are about to be approached by the League with a please explain, as their player offences are at unacceptable levels.”The League will be penalising clubsthat do not meet their‘duty of care’ for player safety, including clubderegistration, fines andloss of premiership points over all gradeswithin that club.

So just saw this on the SAAFL footy news. So what's everyones thought's? I think it's good as long as the club has the chance to do something about it internally first. Then if the club is still having troubles or if they do nothing then the SAAFL should step in.

Sounds like a load of rubbish to me! I think you'll find clubs do deal with trouble makers internally anyway. No club goes out with the intention to deliberately jeopardy players' duty of care.

"Unacceptable levels".. what determines an unacceptable level? What offences are taken into account? Yellow Cards? Red Cards? Reports? Suspensions? Free Kicks Against?!

The penalties listed are extremely hefty.

Sounds like a power trip from the SAAFL to me...

[kickinit]

I think if it's only looking at guys that throwing punches etc and the club has a chance to deal with it in house then I think it's a good idea. I think majority of clubs would deal with this issue in house but there are some that don't do anything

[Phantom Gossiper]

Surely the SAAFL could be putting their time, money and resources to better use..

If it has been such an issue, sort out a plan and deal with it over the summer. Enforce a set of standards, guidelines and penalties and be vigilant from Rd 1 next year, not after the halfway mark of the season! It looks poor and is unprofessional

[LaughingKookaburra]

But these clubs would not have just 1 or 2 incidents. The buck has to stop with someone and obviously punishing individuals is not working. Sorry but someone needs to take responsibility. Seems like common sence to me.

[Old Dog New Tricks]

Surely the SAAFL could be putting their time, money and resources to better use..

If it has been such an issue, sort out a plan and deal with it over the summer. Enforce a set of standards, guidelines and penalties and be vigilant from Rd 1 next year, not after the halfway mark of the season! It looks poor and is unprofessional

Poor and unprofessional, bit like a brawl taking place at a game with the father of one of the brawlers running around with a knife and the police having to be called. Yeah com'n saafl stop wasting your time, money and resources.

[lutz]

Surely the SAAFL could be putting their time, money and resources to better use..

If it has been such an issue, sort out a plan and deal with it over the summer. Enforce a set of standards, guidelines and penalties and be vigilant from Rd 1 next year, not after the halfway mark of the season! It looks poor and is unprofessional

Poor and unprofessional, bit like a brawl taking place at a game with the father of one of the brawlers running around with a knife and the police having to be called. Yeah com'n saafl stop wasting your time, money and resources.

Yea think they need to be seen to be doing something. These sort of things deter people from coming to amateur football unfortunately.

[LaughingKookaburra]

Yes and when it comes to violence you can't just sweep it under the rug and hope the best for 6 months. Too bad if a player is seriously hurt or even killed by an incident and the SAAFL knew of this potential and then did nothing about it.
Then we'd see the time, money and resources go towards compensation.
Some people may think I am being dramatic, but if you are naieve about these things IT WILL come back to bite you.....

[bar20]

“Many clubs go all season without report,and club officials and coaches need toensure they play the game safety and any player only interested in harming othersshould not be on the playing list.

“For this reason, four clubs, which willnot be named, are about to be approached by the League with a please explain, as their player offences are at unacceptable levels.”The League will be penalising clubsthat do not meet their‘duty of care’ for player safety, including club deregistration, fines and loss of premiership points over all grades within that club.

So just saw this on the SAAFL footy news. So what's everyones thought's? I think it's good as long as the club has the chance to do something about it internally first. Then if the club is still having troubles or if they do nothing then the SAAFL should step in.

What happens if you get a new bloke off the street come and train with you, nobody knows him from a bar of soap then he decides he'll play so you chuck him in your C's or D's and he has a blackout during the game and does something stupid. Is it fair your higher grades cops the penalty for that when this bloke may only play 1 game for your club ever and has no affiliation with anyone? Serious question because it's a scenario which is very likely to happen.

[Dogwatcher]

I think the SAAFL response would depend on how the club handles it.

[marbles]

Assault on the street get how many years jail assault on footy field gets 1 match suspension

[Cash 123]

If something had to be done this was not the answer. Just the SAAFL trying to look pro-active after recent bad publicity. Shame

[Executive Member]

If something had to be done this was not the answer. Just the SAAFL trying to look pro-active after recent bad publicity. Shame

enlighten us with the answer then

[Cash 123]

If something had to be done this was not the answer. Just the SAAFL trying to look pro-active after recent bad publicity. Shame

enlighten us with the answer then

Most of the article was just having a whinge in regards to the negative publicity that has occured in recent weeks. That will always happen at certain points in time but there was no need for a rash decision like this I believe.

[Jabber]

Assault on the street get how many years jail assault on footy field gets 1 match suspension

Assault on the street gets a slap on the wrist and off you go to do it again, doesn't it?

Thats not a smart arse response, but as I have never been on either end of it on the street I can only go by whats on the news?

At least with SAAFL there is some sort of penalty what can be used as a deterrant?

[Executive Member]

If something had to be done this was not the answer. Just the SAAFL trying to look pro-active after recent bad publicity. Shame

enlighten us with the answer then

Most of the article was just having a whinge in regards to the negative publicity that has occured in recent weeks. That will always happen at certain points in time but there was no need for a rash decision like this I believe.

not sure its a rash decision to try and stamp out violence on the football field, it is something that has been used in the past to change the thinking of clubs, players and spectators and has proven to change behaviours in the Clubs that it was put on

It also makes it everyone's responsibility within a club and not just the committee

Negative publicity can do untold damage to not just the league but to clubs, one persons actions can lead to sponsors leaving, families leaving etc

[HH3]

Its not like they're going to punish clubs that get one or two reports a season. Its clubs that have players continously being put up before the tribunal that will have to take a stronger approach to stamp it out of their club.

I reckon there'll probably be different grades of offending that will also determine the sanctions on the club. It'll probably only apply for offences that are totally outside what you expect when you play footy eg. king hits, sniping and off the ball incidents. I dont think they'll really care about a bit of push and shove and jumper punches all that much.

[Latte Lad]

I think this new policy isn't intended to name and shame one off reports and punish clubs for this, it will be designed to specifically target serial repeat offenders, clubs with a culture of this sort of stuff, so in other words, if you are doing nothing wrong, youve got nothing to worry about.

As soon as clubs start getting penalised along with the player, then we will start to see things change.

The fact that the SAAFL has identified this as an issue, they now have an obligation to put measures in place to fix it.

[Muffler]

What happens if you get a new bloke off the street come and train with you, nobody knows him from a bar of soap then he decides he'll play so you chuck him in your C's or D's and he has a blackout during the game and does something stupid. Is it fair your higher grades cops the penalty for that when this bloke may only play 1 game for your club ever and has no affiliation with anyone? Serious question because it's a scenario which is very likely to happen.[/quote]

I believe this was the case with a Kilburn C Grade player vs Scotch. A brawl broke out and this blokes first game. ran from the bench and king hit an exchange student from somewhere also happened to be playing his first game. The bloke had tubes stuck down his throat and what not because his jaw was obviously broken so thats the way that had too feed him. Also effected his study because thats why he is over here has missed a months worth of work. These cowardly acts really don't look good for the leauge.

[Phantom Gossiper]

Surely the SAAFL could be putting their time, money and resources to better use..

If it has been such an issue, sort out a plan and deal with it over the summer. Enforce a set of standards, guidelines and penalties and be vigilant from Rd 1 next year, not after the halfway mark of the season! It looks poor and is unprofessional

Poor and unprofessional, bit like a brawl taking place at a game with the father of one of the brawlers running around with a knife and the police having to be called. Yeah com'n saafl stop wasting your time, money and resources.

yeah good one wanker! Want to make mention of an incident that you found out about via safooty and you STILL FAILED to get the facts right!

Club dealt with the situation during and after extremely well in my opinion, and the behaviour of the father was in no way the clubs influence or in the clubs control.

Some people will always be dickheads, why punish the club as a whole? Why not punish the individual?