Tribunal hands out four-game ban for headbutt

WERRIBEE Centrals youngster Elia Tzagarakis was slapped with a four-game ban by the AFL Barwon tribunal after being found guilty of headbutting Bannockburn’s Connor Jervies.

The 18-year-old was reported by umpire James Milligan for the hit during Bannockburn’s win on Saturday.

On a busy night at the tribunal, the news was better for Winchelsea’s John Hambrook, who was found not guilty of abusing an umpire in his team’s win over Belmont.

Milligan said he saw Tzagarakis and Jervies pushing and shoving as the ball was cleared out of the Tigers’ forward line before the incident.

“(Tzagarakis has) whipp(ed) his head back and gone whack with his forehead into the player’s mouth,” Milligan said.

Jervies said Tzagarakis laid a legal block on him before they started pushing and shoving. He told the tribunal that was when Tzagarakis headbutted him.

“I was taken aback. I wasn’t expecting it,” he said, rating the force of the hit a “four or five” out of 10. “I stumbled back from the force.”

Tzagarakis pleaded guilty to making contact with Jervies but not to headbutting, telling the tribunal chaired by Peter Murrihy it was “a little nudge” and a “more in the moment thing”. He said the act was out of character.

When finding Tzagarakis guilty, Murrihy said the act was at the lower end of the headbutting scale. “(But) it’s still an intentional headbutt,” he said. “It brings up all sorts of connotations. It’s something you have to take out of your game.”

HAMBROOK was yellow carded and then later reported by umpire David Frazer, who lives with a mild learning disability, after venting his frustration at not being paid a free kick.

The game was played for the Encompass Cup, with officiating umpires living with a disability.

The Blues midfielder told the tribunal he said “how’s that not a f-----g free kick?” after allegedly being slung to the ground by a Belmont player.

However Frazer said he saw Hambrook turn to him and the yell “f---k you” loud enough to be heard by fans on the boundary.

Belmont Lion Josh Armistead witnessed the incident and gave similar evidence to Hambrook.

Hambrook told the tribunal he was “frustrated” at not getting a freekick.

“I got slung to the ground in what I thought was a dangerous tackle,” he said, adding he was “gobsmacked” when he was told after the match he had been reported.

Murrihy said the tribunal panel leaned towards the evidence given by Hambrook and Armistead.

However the panel — including Werner Weigl and Ron Drew — spent about 15 minutes deliberating before finding Hambrook not guilty. “It’s not a simple case of abusive language,” Murrihy said.

“There has been much discussion (between the panel) over the word ‘f---’ and the context in which it’s used.”

Hambrook said he understood players shouldn’t swear on the footy field, but it was never his intention to abuse Frazer.

“I’d like to apologise to the umpire for feeling the way he did,” he said.