A Collingwood supporter who reached over the fence to grab West Coast’s Harvey Johnston at the weekend has been banned from attending matches for the rest of the year.
The incident occurred in the fourth quarter of Collingwood’s 66-point win over West Coast at Docklands Stadium on Sunday, when the fan grabbed at Johnston before patting him on the head and taking the football from him as Johnston chased a ball over the boundary line.
After investigating the incident, the AFL handed the fan a 12-month ban, with six months suspended. Collingwood has also suspended the man’s membership.
“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,” AFL general counsel Stephen 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.”
After being banned, the fan, revealed to be Collingwood member Justin Witcombe, expressed his remorse over the incident.
“I just saw the ball come to the fence and I just sort of stood up and it just happened,” he told Nine News Melbourne.
“It was just a reflex reaction and it was just a pat on the head and the ball came loose and I handballed it to the umpire.
“I’ll look in the camera and say I’m very sorry for this. It won’t happen again. I will learn from this and I will become a better person for it.
“At no stage did he ever give me permission to put my hands on him and it’s uncalled for and not acceptable in today’s world.
“I’m really sorry for my family, I’ve embarrassed myself and them. I was there as a family man and I left a broken man.”
The incident isn’t without precedent in the AFL. Last year, a fan was banned from attending matches until the end of 2024 after reaching over the fence to grab Richmond’s Marlion Pickett.