Fan Alerted Timekeeper To Siren Debacle

The Age

Tuesday May 2, 2006

MICHAEL GLEESON and ROB SHAW

A FAN in a corporate box tapping on the timekeepers' window with a stubbie was the only reason the official realised play continued after he activated the siren in the shambolic conclusion to Sunday's St Kilda-Fremantle match.

The AFL yesterday deferred a decision on the result, with the AFL Commission to rule tomorrow whether the draw will stand or Fremantle will be declared the winner.

The league yesterday blamed the timekeeper for not continuing to sound the siren until he received acknowledgement from the umpires.

It was claimed by a fan that he started attending to paperwork on the presumption that the game was over.

It is believed Fremantle will use the AFL's admission of the timekeeper's mistake, and the fact the official was employed by the AFL, in its case to be granted the four premiership points tomorrow.

Clem Smith, a patron at Sunday's match at Aurora Stadium, said he was in a corporate box next to the timekeepers' when the match reached its dramatic conclusion. "I could not believe it," Smith said. "We were watching the play at the last stoppage before the debacle. We counted the clock down, saw him press the button and heard the siren go.

"But as soon as he pressed it, he put his head down and started doing some paperwork. In the meantime the umpire has bounced the ball and St Kilda have kicked a point. One of the blokes in the box banged on the window, I think with a stubbie, and he woke up and pressed the button again. They must have heard it the second time because they all stopped. Had the guy not banged on the window they'd probably still be playing now."

In an extraordinary move, AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson admitted the result would remain in limbo until the commission hearing tomorrow. The hearing comes after Fremantle lodged an official complaint with the AFL challenging the result of the game.

Pressed on how the ladder stands and whether points had been awarded subject to tomorrow's hearing, Anderson would not be drawn. "How the match stands at the moment is not relevant because the outcome of the match and the allocation of the points is something that will be finalised by the commission after it conducts a hearing on Wednesday," he said.

"It is essential that we get the correct result of that match. Under the AFL rules the AFL Commission is the body responsible for making and interpreting the laws of Australian football. And under the rules, the commission is the body responsible for determining this challenge to the result of the match."

He defended the delay in finalising the result, saying the two clubs needed time to prepare their submissions and to digest the report by AFL investigations officer and former Victoria Police commissioner Allan Roberts.

"The AFL and the clubs won't be rushed on such an important issue," Anderson said. "The commission will consider this matter thoroughly and fairly and will not be rushed into making that decision for the sake of convenience. It is vitally important we get the correct result of this match.

"It is a very serious issue, it affects the result of a match - there are not many things more important in football, and the AFL Commission, which makes the rules and interprets the rules, must adjudicate on this issue."

Anderson confirmed the investigation had revealed the timekeeper made a mistake. "The field umpires didn't hear the siren at the initial time it was blown," Anderson said. "The timekeeper made an error . . . the timekeeper did not continue to hold down the siren as he is required to do under the laws of Australian football and he has acknowledged his error, and now it is a situation where all the facts have to be reported to the commission."

When pressed on reports that umpire Hayden Kennedy had signalled with a cupped hand to his ear as he ran through the ground that he had heard the siren, Anderson repeated that "the field umpires have confirmed with our investigators they did not hear the siren".

St Kilda has been directed by the AFL to make a submission by 10am today. Declaring its confidence in "the AFL and the commission to make the appropriate determination", the club said: "The laws of the game are clear and specific and we all have an obligation to abide by them."

Fremantle welcomed the hearing. President Rick Hart and chief executive Cameron Schwab - who both followed coach Chris Connolly onto the ground in the confusion at the end of the match - will attend the hearing along with senior legal counsel.

In 2000, the AFL moved from a system where clubs supplied one timekeeper each per match (who did the job on a voluntary basis), to one where the AFL supplied timekeepers and paid them, believed to be less than $200 per game.

Martin Blake's view SPORT 6-7

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