Ugly supporters mar Tiger victory
10 May 2004 Herald Sun
Nikki Tugwell and Damian Barrett
Big mouth: A Sydney Swans fan launches a verbal attack on Danny Frawley at the SCG yesterday.
Picture: Channel 9
POLICE yesterday arrested a male spectator who leant over a fence at the SCG and shoved Swans forward Nick Davis in the back.
The fan pushed the Swan in the upper back with his forearm and appeared to hurl abuse at Davis and his teammate Barry Hall in the third quarter.
The man, in his 20s and wearing Richmond colours, was issued a $110 on-the-spot fine and evicted from the ground.
In another incident after the game, a spectator in Swans colours approached Richmond coach Danny Frawley and launched a verbal attack on him as he walked through the crowd from the coach's box to the playing arena.
"He (the spectator) wasn't too happy with the Swans' performance and let me know," Frawley said.
"He just said a couple of adjectives about us . . . a couple of words that aren't in the Bible."
A fortnight ago Frawley and the Richmond players were spat on and subjected to verbal abuse while walking down the race to the Telstra Dome changerooms after losing to Adelaide.
The man captured by television cameras spitting on Frawley and Richmond players was later found and charged.
The Davis incident followed two other crowd-related problems from Melbourne matches at the weekend.
A Carlton supporter was ordered from the MCG on Saturday for allegedly abusing Collingwood players as they left the field at halftime.
But it is believed he was allowed to return after the security firm analysed video footage of the incident.
A more serious altercation at Telstra Dome during Friday's Essendon-Western Bulldogs game left a man with a broken nose and black eye.
AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said last night the AFL and ground management could do only so much to eliminate crowd problems.
"It seems to be the case that people are asking what is the AFL doing about it and what are the stadiums doing about it," Anderson said.
"They are legitimate questions, but people have to take responsibility for their own actions as well.
"It is a criminal act to thump someone, and in front of children it is even worse."
Anderson said police and private security firms could not physically cover all parts of a stadium.
"There can't be a security guard in every toilet," he said.
"We pay police a fortune to exert their presence for all our games, pay a lot of money."
