Footbrawl fury

By Shaun Inguanzo and Glen Atwell
A FOOTBALL bloodbath that erupted between Noble Park and Doveton under 18 teams has disgusted onlookers and sparked a police investigation.
Both teams are furious over the brawl, with claims that players were kicked in the head as they lay helpless on the ground.
One coach described Saturday’s fracas as the worst he had seen in his football years.
The practice match at Pakenham’s Toomuc Reserve on Saturday was intended as a precursor to a clash between Pakenham and Doveton reserves. Noble Park’s under 18 team played Doveton’s in absence of a Pakenham under 18s side.
Doveton senior coach Stephen Henwood was watching the match and said a small scuffle towards the end of the game quickly erupted into a violent brawl, fuelled by raw emotion and fury as young players punched and kicked each other.
He said spectators – mainly parents – ran on to the ground to try to stop the fight.
Mr Henwood said he had seen confrontations as a player but never anything as bloody or cowardly as Saturday’s conflict.
“I’ve never seen that on a footy field in my life, and I’ve played in grand finals where a couple of players have been hospitalised after the game,” he said.
“But that was from toe-to-toe, face-to-face punching on – not down on the ground copping a full-blooded kick to the head.”
Mr Henwood said players emerged battered, bruised and bloodied.
“One Doveton player’s mouth is still swollen and he has bruising under his chin. Another one has a huge gash over his forehead and copped a broken hand when he went down,” he said.
Pakenham Police arrived and interviewed several people involved.
Mr Henwood said the game was not an official practice match and that two fathers had, instead, umpired the game.
He said Doveton would now ensure it had a registered umpire at any future practice matches so that incidents could be reported to the league, who could in turn discipline players.
Noble Park under 18s coach John Clausen wouldn’t comment on specifics but expressed his disappointment at the brawl.
“There is no bad history between us,” he said.
“We had jumped at the opportunity to play a practice match, given how hard it is to get one with the state of the grounds in the region.
“All we wanted to do was go and play football.”
Noble Park president Kevin Wright said the club had called on the Eastern Football League to investigate the brawl.
“We’ll pass this on to the league. It was an unofficial game, but we’ll still be contacting the EFL about this,” he said.
Mr Wright said a number of players involved in the brawl were left worse for wear. “A couple of the boys were very sore, and there were a few black eyes,” he said.
Acting Senior Sergeant Graham Higginbotham said police were pursuing the matter after several complaints were lodged about the “substantial melee”.
“It was supposed to have been a friendly match – but it wasn’t very. We’re certainly looking at it seriously,” he said.