Foul play

THE match between Dalyston and Phillip Island at Korumburra on Saturday turned nasty in the second semi-final when two of Dalyston’s top players were sidelined with dangerous injuries.

The Star is unable to name the Phillip Island player involved in both incidents as there were no reports made by the umpires according the Lynn Whelan from the Alberton Football Netball League.

The accounts from the two clubs differ and apparently no video footage was taken of the first half of the game.

However according to several spectators at the game, Dalyston ruckman Kurt Thomas was allegedly poked in the eye by a Phillip Island player at the first ball-up just 30 seconds into the game and was forced off the field.

Thomas suffered lacerations to the eye and a scratch on the eye-ball as a result of the incident.

Later on in the first term, the same Phillip Island player is alleged to have elbowed key Dalyston player Bret Thornton in the temple, resulting in Thornton being knocked out. He was taken from the ground and played no further part in the contest.

The spectators, who did not wish to be named, were surprised no reports were made from the game and urged umpires to be watchful in the remaining two games of the season.

At half time in the match, Phillip Island players were booed from the ground by Dalyston supporters.

However according to Phillip Island’s director of football operations, Michael Taylor, he saw nothing in the two incidents.

“The Dalyston ruckman received a knock in the eye early and Thornton went third up in the ruck and I believe he landed head first on the ground,” Mr Taylor said.

Mr Taylor said he was disappointed with the umpiring and said the free kick count went 39-16 in Dalyston’s favour.

Another of Dalyston’s star players, Brad Fisher, has been out of action since the clash against Phillip Island when he was concussed in the August 8 match.

That incident is currently under investigation by the Alberton Football League with the outcome expected to be known early this week. (Check The Star’s Facebook page for updates)

Fisher is apparently recovering well from his concussion and is believed to be a big chance to line up for the grand final on September 12.

Towards the end of the match, a melee erupted when an off the ball incident saw a Phillip Island player yellow-carded and sent from the field.

Thomas’ father Barry Thomas said his son had trouble seeing out of his eye for the first three quarters of the contest.

“The eye was watery and there was some bleeding; this lasted for most of the game,” he said.

“I checked him during the breaks to see if he was doing okay. At three quarter time his vision had improved and he said he would be able to go back on.

“Dalyston said to Kurt that because the game was not in dispute he was not required to go back on.”

Mr Thomas said his son was pretty tough and would not let the incident worry him.

“He’ll be playing in the grand final. The footballers are very focused on playing good football and focused on winning a premiership,” he said.

Asked about the performance of the umpires, Mr Thomas said they had done a good job.

“It is sometimes very hard to see incidents as they often occur in packs and you can’t tell if they’re deliberate or accidental,” he said.

“However the player concerned has a reputation for these sorts of things, so you have to be careful.”

Dalyston is believed to have not videoed the match on Saturday and was seeking the help of the Fish Creek person who was videoing some of the game.

Fish Creek Football Netball Club secretary Jason Harding said his club was approached by Dalyston to see if there was any footage available.

“Our video was taken of the Fish Creek games and we also did the second half of the Dalyston game but not the first half,” Mr Harding said.

“We’ll definitely be videoing all of the senior game this Saturday against Phillip Island after hearing what happened on Saturday. We’ve videoed the last four to five weeks.”

Mr Thomas said in the future, all Alberton Football League senior matches could be videoed.

“It would prove to be expensive but I think it may be the only way to look into incidents on the field,” he said.

“It’s hard on the umpires to umpire a match, let alone see everything that’s going on. The other thing is they don’t always want to front up to a tribunal.

“I think the league has done a pretty good job over the last few years but I reckon things have deteriorated lately. We certainly don’t want a return to the Bass Valley days.”

Dalyston had a comfortable second semi-final win over Phillip Island. It will now meet the winner of this Saturday’s preliminary final between Fish Creek and Phillip Island, after Fish Creek scored an equally impressive win over Stony Creek.

Match reports and pictorial are in today’s Star. Look out for the big grand final feature in next week’s edition.

Battered and bruised: Dalyston players were delighted with the win which sees them into another Alberton Football Netball League grand final. Leading goal kicker Michael Kraska, pictured on the right, suffered an injury during “friendly fire” with a teammate.

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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Sep 1 2015. Filed under News, Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry