{"id":606907,"date":"2026-04-14T20:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T20:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/606907\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T20:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T20:00:25","slug":"port-adelaide-star-zak-butters-responds-after-afl-tribunal-verdict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/606907\/","title":{"rendered":"Port Adelaide star Zak Butters responds after AFL Tribunal verdict"},"content":{"rendered":"

Port Adelaide midfielder Zak Butters<\/a> has been fined $1500 for umpire abuse directed towards Nick Foot during the Gather Round clash with St Kilda.<\/p>\n

Butters was immediately reported in the third term by Foot, with the AFL<\/a> confirming that the Power stand-in captain had been charged with using ‘Abusive and Insulting Language Towards an Umpire’.<\/p>\n

“I was incredibly disappointed with the result tonight,” Butters said following the Tribunal hearing.<\/p>\n

“I stand by knowing what I said and what I didn’t say. Especially what I didn’t say. I like to thank the club for support.”<\/p>\n

Follow Butters Tribunal Blog<\/p>\n

5:12pm: Summing up finally ends. Tribunal about to deliberate. There is a 5.45pm cut-off. Reasons for decision tomorrow.<\/p>\n

5:08pm: Summing up rolls on …
4:55pm: Port’s counsel says there are numerous reasons why Foot could have misheard comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

4:40pm: Summing up. Port saying the evidence is not enough for the Tribunal to be clearly satisfied the abusive statement was made.<\/p>\n

4:30pm:\u00a0 Rutten says Butters told him on the bench, when he left the ground, that the umpiring was “disgusting”. Butters told him what he said to Foot. Rutten says Butters was upset … “very emotional”. Rutten says he heard of Foot’s claims on Monday. Rutten evidence based on what Butters told him happened on the bench.<\/p>\n

Rutten says Butters said he to Foot: “Surely that’s not a free kick”.<\/p>\n

Rutten questioned in difference between Butters’ evidence today and the interview with Channel Seven after the game.<\/p>\n

4:28pm: Port’s GM of footy, Ben Rutten, now to give evidence.<\/p>\n

4:25pm:\u00a0Wines evidence continues. A lot of finer detail unlikely to have bearing on case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

4:09pm:\u00a0 Butters has completed his evidence. Ollie Wines<\/a> of Port now giving evidence.<\/p>\n

Wines says Butters was saying words along the lines of “How do you think that’s a free kick?”<\/p>\n

Wines says both he and Butters were puzzled as to why the free kick was paid.<\/p>\n

Wines says he did not hear Butters say “How much are they paying you?”<\/p>\n

He says he is “100 percent categorical” on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

4:04pm: Butters says he is sure of what he said even though it was in the heat of the moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He says he was emotional after the game, explaining his version of events in a post game interview were different to what he said in the tribunal.<\/p>\n

3.57pm: Butters says he is “100 per cent sure” he didn’t say the words Foot claims.<\/p>\n

He says he was “baffled” by the 50m penalty being awarded for abuse by Foot.<\/p>\n

3.54pm:\u00a0Zak Butters<\/a> giving evidence, says he didn’t know umpire Nick Foot worked for a betting company.<\/p>\n

Butters says he was “confused and looking for some clarity” after the free kick.<\/p>\n

Butters says he said to Foot: “Surely that’s not a free kick”.<\/p>\n

Butters says Ollie Wines<\/a>, his teammate, said something along the same lines.<\/p>\n

3.53pm:\u00a0\u00a0Nick Foot tells the tribunal the Butters comment was in a “conversational” level in terms of volume. Foot’s evidence completed.<\/p>\n

3.45pm: Umpire Nick Foot is grilled by Port’s counsel on the crowd noise and noise in his earpiece. There is also a question about rain making it harder to hear.<\/p>\n

Foot says he heard comments from Butters and Port’s Ollie Wines<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Foot doesn’t recall Butters saying “Surely that’s not a free kick”.<\/p>\n

Foot says it is possible Wines and Butters were talking over each other.<\/p>\n

He strongly disagrees he misheard the comment in question.<\/p>\n

Foot says there was “clear air” when Butters made comment, adding “it could only have been him”.<\/p>\n

3.38pm: Umpire Foot is giving evidence, explaining free kick to Mitch Owens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Foot says Butters asked “How much are they paying you?”<\/p>\n

Foot says it questioned his integrity. He says he heard it clearly.<\/p>\n

“I am 100 per cent adamant those were the words Zak Butters<\/a> said to me,” Foot says.<\/p>\n

Foot says he did not talk to Butters after game because umpires are instructed not to talk to players after a game re reportable offences.<\/p>\n

3.36pm: The AFL<\/a> is seeking a $1500 fine as penalty. Port is comfortable if charge upheld.<\/p>\n

3.34pm: Port footy staffer Ben Rutten and Port star Ollie Wines<\/a> will be witnesses in case.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier….\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Following the match day report during the Third Quarter of Sunday’s match, it is alleged that Butters said to Umpire Nick Foot “How much are they paying you?”,” the AFL<\/a> said in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n

“The exchange was not picked up on the umpire’s microphone.”<\/p>\n

In a statement, the club said: “The Port Adelaide Football Club will defend in the strongest possible way the allegations made by AFL<\/a> umpire Nick Foot against Butters.<\/p>\n

“Port Adelaide believes the words used by Butters were misheard and misconstrued from what was actually said.<\/p>\n

“Acting club captain Butters is unambiguously adamant on what was said and the club strongly supports him and his position.<\/p>\n

“Former club captain and Brownlow Medallist Ollie Wines<\/a> was standing next to Butters and Foot at the time of the exchange and will provide a witness statement in support of Butters.<\/p>\n

“Port Adelaide is also disappointed that umpire Foot dismissively refused Butters’ attempt to seek clarification post-game, as captain of the club.”<\/p>\n

Butters vehemently denied using derogatory or offensive language towards Foot immediately after the game during a post-match interview with Channel Seven.<\/p>\n

“I’d love to know the language that I said, because I went up to him after the game to have a chat and he said he didn’t want to speak to me,” Butters said.<\/p>\n

“All I said was, ‘how is that a free kick?’ and he paid 50 and said I’m on report.<\/p>\n

“I had a few teammates there right next to me, Ollie Wines<\/a> … I’m curious to follow that one up because I’m never going to say anything bad to the umpires.<\/p>\n

“I just wanted to follow up and ask what he thought I said from his end.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Port Adelaide midfielder Zak Butters has been fined $1500 for umpire abuse directed towards Nick Foot during the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-606907","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\/606907","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=606907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}