The South West District Football Netball Netball League have issued a statement regarding the violence at the Dartmoor v Westerns game on the weekend.

MEDIA STATEMENT

South West District Football Netball League
Monday June 20th, 2011

The South West District Football Netball League have offered the following statement after the incident at the Westerns v Dartmoor match at Alexandra Park on Saturday June 18:

"The South West District Football Netball League is extremely disappointed with the violent behavior seen after the match between Westerns and Dartmoor at Alexandra Park on Saturday June 18th.

The League detests this kind of violence and takes a very dim view to those that were involved in the events on Saturday.

The League is committed to stamping out this type of behavior at its local football matches, and takes seriously its charge of the responsibility of making our sport safe for all participants and spectators.

The fact that the events occurred after the end of play and outside of the field of play is a matter of serious concern to the SWDFNL.

Umpire reports stemming from the match itself will be dealt with by the SWDFNL tribunal on Wednesday night.

In addition to this, an independent investigation will be instigated by the League that will look at all events that occurred after the match concluded.

The League will provide a brief to the independent investigator that includes complaints from both clubs and the league as to the scope and breadth of the investigation.

Both participating clubs may be charged with unbecoming conduct by the independent investigator in that they participated in an activity that was seen to bring the game of football into disrepute.

Any other player, umpire or official can also be then charged under these conditions.

The independent investigator has an initial 21 days to lodge their recommendations to the SWDFNL Board who will then forward them onto the SWDFNL Tribunal.

Enquiries regarding the Victoria Police investigations into the matter should be directed to the local police."

Chrissy Hawker

SWDFNL Administrator

Article first appeared www.vcfl.com.au 20 June, 2011