Kiwi ‘attacked’ while helping out
Kiwis wing Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was allegedly attacked while helping at a junior league game.
Penrith Panthers general manager Phil Gould confirmed the incident happened on Saturday, but said the club would leave the investigation of the incident to Junior League.
‘‘It is now part of a junior league matter, it is a junior league matter and not for us. If they comeback with some sort of information on Dallin that have not got already we will investigate it,’’ he told Australia’s Channel Nine.
Gould did not believe WateneZelezniak had done anything wrong.
‘‘Dallin rang me straight afterwards very upset,’’ Gould said on Channel Nine.
‘‘He was volunteering as a linesman for a Junior League rugby league match when he was verbally and physically abused by an official for one of the teams, one of the trainers for one of the junior teams who was later evicted from the ground.
‘‘All the eyewitness accounts that have been refereed to me all marry up with the same story, that Dallin was not the instigator of the incident.’’
It is understood the game was between St Clair and St Mary’s in Sydney and the incident occurred when Watene-Zeleniak international lifted his flag when a St Mary’s player stepped on the line.
A St Mary’s official allegedly confronted Watene-Zelezniak and it turned physical when the official put his hands around his neck and started wrestling with him.
‘‘It was very ugly and parents and officials had to take the kids across the field before a few people eventually broke it up,’’ a witness told Channel Nine.
Watene-Zelezniak was not injured and played in the Panthers’ match against Gold Coast on Saturday evening.
The Panthers, who confirmed that the Kiwi did not instigate the incident, said in a statement released yesterday that the matter was under investigation by Penrith Junior League and will be reviewed today.