{"id":597729,"date":"2026-04-10T10:57:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T10:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/597729\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T10:57:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T10:57:14","slug":"st-kilda-player-lance-collard-found-guilty-by-afl-of-using-homophobic-slur-afl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/597729\/","title":{"rendered":"St Kilda player Lance Collard found guilty by AFL of using homophobic slur | AFL"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">St Kilda forward Lance Collard has been found guilty of using a homophobic slur against an opponent, leaving his AFL career hanging in the balance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Collard had rejected suggestions he called his Frankston opponent a \u201cf*****\u201d during a VFL match last month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The hearing took place on Thursday, but the tribunal panel did not reach a determination before the 5pm deadline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Deliberations resumed on Friday morning before the judgement \u2013 that the charge be upheld \u2013 was made public late that evening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">There will next be a hearing to determine the sanction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/afl\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AFL<\/a> pressed for a 10-week suspension for Collard, rather than a 10-match suspension, if he was found guilty of conduct unbecoming.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThe AFL acknowledges the decision of the independent disciplinary tribunal today to uphold the charge against Lance Collard of the St Kilda Football Club following a finding that he breached AFL Rule 2.3(a) (Conduct Unbecoming) by the use of a homophobic slur directed towards an opponent in a VFL match on March 27,\u201d the AFL said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cA sanction hearing will now be convened to determine the sanction at a date and time to be determined.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThe AFL has no tolerance for the use of homophobic language in our game and its expectations have been made extremely clear to all of our players, including by education that all AFL and VFL players receive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">St Kilda were \u201cnaturally disappointed\u201d and will consider appealing the judgement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThe club is also reviewing the tribunal\u2019s written findings and will consider its position, including avenues of appeal,\u201d St Kilda said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cWe will continue to support Lance throughout this process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Collard, who was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/article\/2024\/jul\/17\/lance-collard-afl-player-homophobic-slur-match-suspension-six-matches-ntwnfb\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">banned for six matches for using the same homophobic word<\/a> in 2024, was adamant he did not use it this time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">He insisted he said, \u201cCome here, maggot\u201d, to Frankston player Darby Hipwell.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cHe had his head up against my ear and he said the words to me, \u2018Darby, you \u2018f***ing f*****\u2019,\u201d Hipwell said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The allegation was supported by Hipwell\u2019s teammate Bailey Lambert.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Hipwell and Collard previously played together with VFL club Sandringham when that side was St Kilda\u2019s state-league affiliate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Collard has played 15 AFL games, after being taken by the Saints in the 2023 draft.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">He is already serving a two-match ban stemming from a high hit on an opponent in the same VFL match he allegedly used the homophobic slur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St Kilda forward Lance Collard has been found guilty of using a homophobic slur against an opponent, leaving&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-597729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}