AFANA News - 06/05/2000
Provided by our man in Melbourne, Johnson Leung
Hello fans!
Essendon's unbeaten streak shows no sign of abating. Last Sunday, they accounted for the reigning premiers North Melbourne by 49 points at the MCG. Bombers coach Kevin Sheedy tried to downplay his team during the week, but it did not stop them from scoring 7.5 to nil in the first quarter, thus causing the Kangaroos to be scoreless in the first quarter for the first time since Round 6, 1978, when they failed to score against Geelong in the first quarter at Kardinia Park. Although the Bombers kicked quite inaccurately in the next three quarters, the match was already over.
However, the match (seen by 67,000 fans, just less than the crowd at the corresponding match last year) was brought into life by a melee involving up to 15 players. The melee erupted soon after Roos captain Wayne Carey and rugged Essendon defender Dean Wallis clashed behind play in the Kangaroos' goal square at the Ponsford Stand end late in the third term. It got out of control seconds later when Corey McKernan, who marked the ball in the goal square seconds later, was pulled to the ground by Bomber defender Dustin Fletcher.
Carey and several other players, including Damien Hardwick and Dean Solomon (Essendon), and Jason McCartney and Glenn Archer (Kangaroos), jumped into the pack as players wrestled and swung arms at other, while McKernan kicked a goal.
Three players were booked and up to 12 more face video scrutiny. Emergency umpire Michael Vozzo booked Archer for attempting to strike Solomon. Field umpire Andrew Coates booked Hardwick and McCartney for wrestling each other. More players are expected to be charged after a video scrutiny.
Archer also will miss six weeks after stress fractures in his right foot were revealed today. The injury is the same type which forced Essendon captain James Hird onto the sidelines for almost two seasons.
Should Essendon's unbeaten streak continues to the end of the season, they would break the 19-match record set by Collingwood in 1929, in the middle of their four consecutive premierships. If the trend continues (including the 2000 premiership), the Bombers could even challenge their own record of 27 unbeaten matches from 1911 to 1912. The next few weeks will be crucial: the Bombers will play Sydney (SCG), West Coast (Colonial) and Port Adelaide (Football Park), none of which are considered to be cakewalks. Could the number 13 mean something lucky for Essendon?
Essendon also faces a big challenge from last year's grand finalist Carlton, who backed up from a 50-point thrashing of West Coast with a somewhat comfortable 96-point demolition of Melbourne last Saturday. The Blues have now won eight in a row and can extend the streak with home games against Geelong and Adelaide. The Crows, who lost the first five games have now won six of the last eight matches, and is just outside the top eight with an inferior percentage. But history is against them: No other team in the VFL/AFL history has reached the finals after losing the first five games of the season. Can the Crows do the impossible?
Now to the news:
The
mysterious disappearance of Winston Abraham
Police could lay charges this week against Kangaroo forward
Winston Abraham over his involvement in a brawl at Crown Casino
and the AFL club was also considering taking further action
against him. Detectives from Victoria Police hope to speak to
Abraham this week about his alleged involvement in the two
incidents -- one in, then one near Crown casino early on last
Monday morning.. A man has told police he received a broken jaw
in a fight. Film from security cameras at the casino show a wild
brawl involving two groups of men who were then escorted out of
separate exits of the casino by security staff. The two groups
later became involved in another brawl when they inadvertently
crossed paths in nearby Queensbridge St about 3.20am. Abraham,
who also suffered extensive facial injuries in the fights, flew
home to Perth on Monday without the club's permission or
knowledge. The Roos acknowledged he had been involved in a fight,
but said he had returned home to patch up a relationship with a
woman. Roos football manager Geoff Walsh made a snap visit to
Perth on Wednesday to help Abraham, who returned to Melbourne on
Friday.
Abraham was dropped to the VFL side Murray Kangaroos and struggled in the team's loss to Coburg last Saturday. The Kangaroos have not ruled out further penalising the player, depending on the outcome of police inquiries. Kangaroos media manager Damian Booth said it was up to the club to "determine if it is deemed necessary to take any further action." Police said they would wait until talking to Abraham to decide whether to lay charges following the fracas.
Magro
takes Dockers to court over sacking
Former Fremantle assistant coach Stan Magro has launched a
A$200,000 legal action against the club over his 1998 sacking.
Magro, who was sacked after Damian Drum replaced Gerard Neesham
as Dockers coach in 1998, is suing Dockers chief executive David
Hatt, football manager Gerard McNeill and ex-president Ross
Kelly, who recruited him from Collingwood in 1997. In the West
Australian Supreme Court writ, Magro claimed the club had struck
a verbal three-year contract worth A$100,000 a year plus a car.
He also alleged the club promised him an interview for the senior
coaching post should it become vacant and said it would find
employment for his wife Anna. Magro is claiming more than
A$197,000 in salary allegedly owed to him from the contract plus
loss and damages for alleged misleading and deceptive conduct by
the club. He will also claim unspecified damages for the alleged
impact the sacking had on his coaching career. Magro played and
coached South Fremantle before moving to Collingwood where he
played 96 games, including five losing grand finals (1975, 1977,
1979, 1980, 1981).
Wrong
decisions costly for goal umpires
Another two South Australia-based goal umpires face a minimum
two-week suspension from the AFL for gaffes in Saturday night's
Port Adelaide-Collingwood clash at Football Park. Mike Nicolai
seems certain to be suspended for calling a goal kicked by Power
forward Warren Tredrea in the 22nd minute of the third term as
"touched". Video suggests a Collingwood defender
handled the ball behind the goal post. (You can judge for
yourself in the AFL highlights program.) This comes four weeks
after Nicolai was amid controversy, but survived an AFL review,
of a dubious goal kicked by Crows forward Peter Vardy at Football
Park against the Kangaroos. Steve Murphy also is likely to be
dropped, despite correcting his error in the last quarter. He
signaled a goal for Port midfielder Josh Francou in the 18th
minute, but was then advised to change his call by a field
umpire. Video shows Francou's kick did travel across the goal
post to register a behind. The two incidents in Saturday night's
match mark four goal umpiring controversies at Football Park this
season. The first, a goal that was registered as a hit-post
behind to Port forward Chad Cornes against Adelaide, led to the
standing down of goal umpire Leo Corrieri for two weeks.
Suspensions are costly for AFL goal umpires, not only denying them $1000 in match payments, but ranking points that decide who will stand at the goals in AFL finals. The latest controversies are expected to see AFL national umpiring director Jeff Gieschen trial four boundary umpires in next year's Ansett Cup pre-season series. The extra boundary umpires would be used to help the goal umpires. There also will be renewed calls for two goal umpires at each goal front, or video analysis, a move favored by Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse.
Briefly:
*Melbourne's trouble-ridden Colonial Stadium is set to be renamed
after the approved purchase of its naming sponsor, Australian
financial group Colonial, by Commonwealth Bank of Australia, one
of the "big four" banks in the country. More than 90
per cent of shareholders, option holders and income security
owners holding more than 90 per cent of each class of security
voted this week in favour of schemes of arrangement to allow the
deal to proceed. As part of the deal, the name
"Colonial" will disappear. The merger has already
received approval from the Federal Treasurer, the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission and the Australian Prudential
Regulation Authority. The A$460 million stadium at Melbourne's
Docklands could be renamed as Commonwealth Stadium as early as
next year.
*Umpires will be wired for sound in next year's Ansett Cup as an experiment in live communications between them and their coaches. The AFL umpires' department is looking at central umpires carrying equipment which will enable them to speak to each other during games. They will also be in radio contact with the emergency umpire, as well as umpires' department officials. Referees and touch judges in National Rugby League matches have already been wired. The wiring of the AFL umpires could be used in the home-and-away season if successful in the Ansett Cup.
*HIV-positive amateur footballer Matthew Hall, who was at the centre of a landmark court ruling last year that allowed him to return to amateur competition, returned to the field for the first time in two years last Saturday, but left the ground 10 minutes into the match. Hall was scratched accidentally during play. He also suffered a hair-line rib fracture. 28-year-old Hall was playing for Old Ivanhoe in a Club 18 match, the level below the reserves, against Rupertswood, when he was injured. The VAFA banned Hall from playing two years ago. However, with the support of the Victorian AIDS Council, Hall won an appeal against the decision in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal last year.
*Tony Lockett will present a dirty blue Adidas bag he first took to the football in 1983, and along his illustrious career, to AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson this Thursday. In it will be the 1987 Brownlow Medal, the ball, jumper and boots used in his record-breaking 1300th-goal game, four Coleman Medals (1987, 1991, 1996, 1998) and one E.J. Whitten Medal (1995). The memorabilia, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, will be lent to the AFL, which is likely to display it at the MCG's Hall of Fame and also take it around Australia for promotional purposes. The decision to part with the prized collection of awards came recently when Lockett spoke to Sydney Swans officials. He would prefer the public benefit from the memorabilia rather than gathering dust in a wardrobe at his home. It is nearly 12 months since Lockett passed the long-standing goal kicking record (1299) of Collingwood's Gordon Coventry.
*The Australian Chiropractors Association has called for all footballers to wear American gridiron style protection to cut spinal damage on the footy field. Victorian association president Ari Diskin said footballers were suffering long-term damage in every match because of the hits and bumps they were taking on the field. He said many spinal injuries were not being detected with players suffering spinal nerve damage affecting everything from their movement to internal functions such as digestion and breathing. But his call for increased protection was given a cautious response from the AFL Players Association. Chief executive Andrew Demetriou said he was unaware of undetected spinal injuries or the need for more protection to stop spinal injuries. The Australian Medical Association said it had yet to see evidence of significant spinal damage from football. AMA sports expert Dr Chris Merry said gridiron style protection would create new health problems for players such as overheating and damage from helmets hitting players.
*Tasmania's chances of hosting AFL matches next year were looking positive but were still in the hands of league clubs, taskforce chairman and Hawthorn legend Peter Hudson said today. The Tasmanian taskforce was due to release a report today but the AFL said it wanted to study it and give clubs a chance to consider it before revealing details. A spokesman for Tasmanian Premier Jim Bacon said the AFL considered the report contained some sensitive information and it was unwise to release it at this stage. AFL spokesman Patrick Keane said clubs were considering the report and a response could come in around two weeks. The document reportedly is expected to reveal that at least four Victorian clubs are interested in playing in the state and that Tasmania could afford to host two practice matches, two Ansett Cup games and two home and away matches next year. Tasmania hosted a number of Fitzroy home matches in the early 1990s.
*Hawthorn director Richard Amos, who played a key role in the "Operation Payback" anti-merger campaign in 1996 and helped bolster the club membership, has resigned from the club's board due to a potential conflict of interest. Amos is general manager and a partner of a Melbourne-based public relations firm which recently took on the role of representing Colonial Stadium operator Nationwide Venue Management. Hawks president Ian Dicker, who unwillingly accepted the resignation, said he hoped Amos would be able to return to the board in the future.
*Geelong defender Steven King is the AFLPA Most Valuable Player for round 12.
That's all for now. I will be away for four weeks for my uni exams. Enjoy the summer. See you in July. Also: if you are going to London to see the Crows play the Demons at The Oval on October, why not add an International Rules match between Ireland and Australia in Dublin the next day? More details later.
Regards,
Johnson Leung
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