Riverine Herald |
Mathoura footballer Stuart Day will miss the next four matches for his side after he was suspended on Wednesday night by the Picola and District Football League.
Mathoura's Stuart Day has copped a four-match ban for abusive language towards an umpire during Saturday's match against Picola United.
Day will also umpire two Picola and District Football League matches, most likely in the under 14s, as further punishment.
If he does not umpire the junior matches he will miss a further two weeks.
The PDFL tribunal handed down its verdict on Wednesday night.
Mathoura president Warren Barnett said four weeks was a harsh penalty.
''I thought the suspension was relatively harsh for a player who's never faced the tribunal before,'' he said.
''He's a young player who's come back from a four-week injury.
''He played his first game, got frustrated and said a silly thing.
''I thought two weeks would have been enough to get the message across to him.''
The Timbercutters argued Day swore in frustration and not at the umpire.
Day was penalised a 50m penalty for overstepping the mark when he thought the umpire called ''play on''.
The umpire said ''move on'' to the United player and penalised Day.
Mathoura argued Day was not given an explanation as to why he was penalised before he questioned how much the umpire was being paid.
The umpire then awarded a second 50m penalty, which Day also contested.
Day was then shown a red card for swearing and evicted from the field.
Barnett said the first comment was a smart alec one and that the second was swearing in frustration and not at the umpire.
''The message we got was that the league's very serious about no tolerance when it comes to swearing at umpires,'' he said.
''They said the umpires are leaving the profession because of abuse.''
Tribunal secretary Bruce Tuhan understood players became frustrated at times, but said that was not an excuse to abuse umpires.
''Umpires are human beings and need to be treated with respect,'' he said.
''We don't want players abusing umpires, it's not necessary.
''The umpire (in question) felt like (Day) was indicating the abuse towards him.''
Mathoura could have appealed the suspension but accepted it.
By Zach Hubber
