A local football player has received death threats after leaving an opposition player unconscious with a bone-crunching bump minutes into the Northern Football League’s Division Two Senior Grand Final in Melbourne’s north last Saturday.
The Whittlesea Eagles Football Club and the Fitzroy Stars Football Club had reached the three-minute mark in the opening term of the Grand Final when Eagles’ Full Forward, Paul Harrison hit a pack at full pace and shepherded Fitzroy Stars captain, Lionel Proctor with such force that he was knocked unconscious.
A brawl ensued around the injured player and Harrison was red-carded and left the ground following the fracas.
BRAWL: Both teams erupted after the huge hit that left Fitzroy Stars Captain, Lionel Proctor (3) unconscious for several minutes. Credit: James Henry Photography
Proctor was taken to hospital after a 20-minute wait for an ambulance.
As Harrison sat on the interchange, the Fitzroy crowd erupted and attempted to move into the Whittlesea bench in an effort to reach the Eagles forward.
Police intervened and removed Harrison from the venue in an effort to protect him from the irate opposition crowd.
After the conclusion of the game in which the Eagles won by 19 points, Harrison returned home to find 37 messages on his home phone message bank with various threats to his self.
Facebook was also alight, with abuse on the Whittlesea Eagles fan page.
Jarrad Carey, Whittlesea Football Club’s Football Manager says the club has nothing but well wishes for the injured player, but believes the rumours spread around the ground on the day, as well as the speculation on social media added heat to the issue.
“We were made aware pretty quickly that specific threats had been made to Paul and his immediate family on the day. Unfortunately further threats have been made in the days following, largely due to the spreading of misinformation regarding the on-field incident. While we are sensitive to Lionel and his family, the club fully supports Paul and look forward to having the issue sorted by the NFL Independent Tribunal.”
Harrison will face an automatic two-week ban for being red-carded.
The police are yet to be involved.
