Umpire felt 'threatened' by player, fan abuse after unruly AFL finale
Drinks were flung in the direction of umpires as they left the field following Brisbane's nine-point preliminary final win at the MCG. (Getty Images: Josh Chadwick/AFL Photos)
In short:
A 34-year-old man is expected to be charged after allegedly throwing a plate of food at a woman and a child during the Hawthorn-Brisbane AFL preliminary final at the MCG.
He is one of three men police have spoken to in relation to a string of incidents stemming from the game.
Two men have been fined for throwing bottles onto the field of play.
A 34-year-old Seaford man is expected to be charged for allegedly throwing a plate of food at a woman and child during last week's AFL preliminary final between Hawthorn and Brisbane.
He is expected to be charged on summons with aggravated unlawful assault and discharge a missile.
Police have interviewed the man and another 56-year-old Tullamarine man, who was identified after allegedly throwing a bottle onto the MCG's field of play at the conclusion of the match.
The Tullamarine man has been fined $418 under the Major Events Act.
He is the second man to be fined after security detained a 40-year-old Croydon man for throwing a bottle onto the field of play, before he was spoken to by police.
Bottles and cans were thrown onto the field after the game, including some aimed at the umpires as they walked off the MCG after a holding-the-ball decision by field umpire Hayden Meyer against Jarman Impey that gave Brisbane a go-ahead goal with 18 seconds remaining.
Despite the protestations from Hawthorn fans, Impey admitted the umpires made the right call.
"It was the right decision," he told the Kick It Forward podcast at the Brownlow Medal on Monday night.
"Naturally, when you think there are 30-40 seconds to go, you try and hold it in go from there, but credit to Hayden.
"I hope there was no hate message towards him, so sending love to him."
Police are continuing to make enquiries regarding the fan behaviour during and after the match.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.