Anti-DV class for players

PENALISED sports people could be made to undertake anti-violence training rather than missing games under a new proposal from domestic violence campaigner and media identity Charlie King.

King, who has been the face of the NO MORE movement for almost a decade, has proposed that players would be referred to CatholicCare NT’s Behaviour Change Program.

Under the proposal, sporting tribunals would be given the “sentencing option” in lieu of missing games, for physical offences such as hitting or swearing at or disrespecting an umpire.

It follows an NTFL season that saw a number of big suspensions, with Palmerston’s Desmond Corbett rubbed out for 18 matches and deregistered after pleading guilty to serious misconduct against Wanderers in early February, the official NO MORE round.

King said the program forced participants to look deep inside themselves, while dealing with their anger and better understanding the negatives of violence.

“I tell you what, it makes you turn your eyeballs around and look at yourself to get a good picture of what you were doing,” King said of the program. “It’s time for a whole rethink for penalties for violent and abusive behaviour on sporting fields, but it needs to be taken on board by all codes.”

However, he stressed it was not creating a link between over-aggression on the field and domestic violence.

“We’re not labelling them as wife bashers, it’s about violence in general,” King said.

“Abusive language and all that lack of respect stuff which leads to violence.

“What we’ve got right now isn’t working, the hotheads are still there, they turn up every game. Losing a few games doesn’t fix it.”

He said he was convinced it would make a willing participant a “better person”.

“You could get three matches of suspension, which could be reduced if you do a session (with the program), each one is about an hour and a half,” he said.

King said he was not a believer in “white line fever” and violence could extend to everyday life.

“If you can’t control your emotions when you cross the white line, you can’t control it (anywhere),” he said.

“The No.1 thing is, you’ve got to see yourself as others see you.

“It makes them look at themselves.

“It is such a good program, it makes you take a really long, hard look at yourself.”

An AFLNT spokeswoman said it was “always open to discuss ways on improving the game environment across all competitions”, with the number of NTFL senior match reports remaining “steady” on previous seasons.

White Ribbon director Allan Ball said all sporting codes could do more to prevent violence before it started by committing to “primary prevention training”.

“It would be great to see anti-violence training integrated in the pre-season sessions, which would engage every player and club member,” Mr Ball said.