The Collingwood fan who made contact with a West Coast player during last Sunday’s match has been banned from attending AFL matches for the rest of the season.
7NEWS Perth’s Ryan Daniels reports the AFL banned the fan for 12 months, with six of those months suspended, after he grabbed young Eagle Harvey Jonston.
“After reviewing the security report and taking into consideration the fan’s immediate contrition including actively providing Police and security his details on the day, the AFL has banned him from attending, at a minimum, all AFL / AFLW matches in 2024,” the AFL said in a statement.
Stream analysis, local footy and the biggest moments free on 7plus
“The total ban is 12 months, with six months suspended (with the suspended portion remaining in place for two years).”
Johnston contested a mark with Josh Daicos near the boundary line before the ball spilled in front of them and went out of bounds early in the last quarter of their clash on Sunday.
The Eagles draftee followed the ball out of bounds and grabbed it before it hit the fence.
When he got to the fence, he was grabbed by the Collingwood fan, who had two hands on his head.
The fan then grabbed the ball out of Johnstone’s hands and handballed it back to the boundary umpire.
His contact with Johnstone was not aggressive or harmful, and the player took it in good spirits. Johnston had a smile on his face and made no issue of it.
AFL general counsel Stephen Meade said the incident was simply not acceptable.
“While we acknowledge the innocuous nature in which the incident played out on the day, these types of interactions should not happen. Grabbing a player from over the fence could have potentially escalated if it wasn’t for the professional manner in which Eagles player Harvey responded,” Meade said.
“We also acknowledge the fan involved proactively made himself known to security and Police and apologised to both Collingwood, West Coast and the AFL, and recognise his immediate understanding of his actions not being acceptable.
“We have the best fans in sport, and more than 3.1 million people have attended the footy this year and we want everyone who comes to games to barrack for their club and enjoy the experience, but when you overstep the clear boundaries, which is what happened on the weekend, then you will lose the privilege of being able to attend the footy.
“Reinforcing what we communicated last year – we love the interactions between players and fans especially in the moments pre and post-game, and the occasion in-game when a player celebrates with his club’s fans – however what we saw on Sunday during the match is not acceptable.”