FORMER AFL strongman Barry Hall has moved closer to a lifetime ban from football after being reported in a country match.

The four-time All-Australian forward, 36, now playing for his home club Broadford, was sent off and reported for striking Romsey's Blake Henderson on Friday night, The Weekly Times reports.

A league spokesman said Broadford would contest the charge at a Riddell District Football League tribunal hearing tomorrow night.

Hall's chequered history at the AFL tribunal landed him with 26 weeks' suspension over the course of his career. Under AFL Victoria's deregistration policy rules, players with 16 or more weeks' suspension are automatically issued a lifelong ban.

But a clause in the policy allows former AFL players to halve their suspensions, meaning Hall's 26 weeks is reduced to 13.

A further three weeks' suspension would end his football career.

According to AFL data, Hall accrued 17 charges, 11 guilty verdicts, 26 games' suspension and $4950 in fines in his top-level career.

Former St Kilda tagger Steve Baker, now playing for Sorrento, managed to overturn a lifetime ban in April for striking an opponent during a practice match.

Baker was handed a six-week ban for a clash that left Red Hill player Blake Thompson with a broken jaw.

The 32-year-old, suspended for a total of 28 weeks during his 203-game AFL career, was cleared on appeal to the Mornington Peninsula & Nepean Football League tribunal.

By Roslyn Lanigan

Article first appeared www.heraldsun.com.au July 01, 2013