{"id":778105,"date":"2026-07-04T07:52:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T07:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/778105\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T07:52:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T07:52:17","slug":"wa-premier-orders-statue-of-former-footballer-nicky-winmar-to-be-removed-after-assault-conviction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/778105\/","title":{"rendered":"WA premier orders statue of former footballer Nicky Winmar to be removed after assault conviction"},"content":{"rendered":"

The statue of former AFL player Neil Elvis “Nicky” Winmar will be removed from Perth Stadium after a Victorian court found him guilty of assaulting a woman.<\/p>\n

The bronze statue was unveiled in 2019, immortalising the moment the Noongar man raised his St Kilda guernsey and pointed to his skin after facing racial abuse from Collingwood fans during an AFL match in 1993.<\/p>\n

Winmar played 251 AFL games with St Kilda and Western Bulldogs but was originally from Western Australia.<\/p>\n

\"Bronze<\/p>\n

The statue outside Perth Stadium was unveiled in 2019. (ABC News: Lauren Smith)<\/p>\n

On Friday, a Bendigo magistrate found Winmar guilty of assaulting a woman in northern Victoria last year.<\/a><\/p>\n

Statue ‘no longer appropriate’<\/p>\n

Shortly after the decision, WA Premier Roger Cook called for the statue to be taken down.<\/p>\n

“Violence against women is never acceptable, and it is important we send a strong message to the community,” Mr Cook said.<\/p>\n

“Following Nicky Winmar’s conviction, I’m of the firm view that it is no longer appropriate for that statue to be displayed.<\/p>\n

“VenuesWest has been directed to remove the statue.”<\/p>\n

\"Toger<\/p>\n

Roger Cook has ordered the statue be taken down. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

In a statement on Saturday, VenuesWest \u2014 which owns and manages sport venues on behalf of the state government \u2014 confirmed plans to remove the statue were underway.<\/p>\n

“As per the premier’s direction and in conjunction with the AFL, VenuesWest can confirm that arrangements are now being made for removal.”<\/p>\n

\"Nicky<\/p>\n

The statue of Winmar is based on this moment in AFL history from 1993. (Supplied: Wayne Ludbey)<\/p>\n

The exact timeline of the statue’s removal remained unclear.<\/p>\n

Victim ‘fearful’<\/p>\n

Winmar has been found guilty of three counts of unlawful assault and common law assault. Magistrate Trieu Huynh acquitted him of a fourth charge of intentionally causing injury.<\/p>\n

The former footballer had pleaded not guilty to charges including assault and intentionally causing injury.<\/p>\n

The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court in May she was “fearful” for her life during the incident in May 2025 at Cohuna.<\/p>\n

\"Nicky<\/p>\n

Winmar was found guilty of assaulting a woman in Victoria. (ABC News: Anna McGuinness)<\/p>\n

The prosecution told the court Winmar grabbed and twisted the woman’s arm, dragged her by her hair and smashed her head against a wooden door four times, while the defence said Winmar made contact with the woman’s arm in in self-defence.<\/p>\n

The matter will return to court in August for a pre-sentence hearing.<\/p>\n

Mixed reactions<\/p>\n

People walking past the statue on Saturday morning had mixed views about what should be done.<\/p>\n

One man said he believed removing the statue would be “a bit drastic”.<\/p>\n

“Pulling down the statue is probably a bit harsh \u2026 but as a role model, I think he should have done better,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Bronze<\/p>\n

One man said Winmar should have done better as a role model. (ABC News: Lauren Smith)<\/p>\n

One woman told the ABC it should be taken down.<\/p>\n

“Given the fact that he’s been found guilty of assaulting a woman, I think it needs to go,” she said.<\/p>\n

“To do something like this and be found guilty, it should be taken down,” another woman said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The statue of former AFL player Neil Elvis “Nicky” Winmar will be removed from Perth Stadium after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":778106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,223612,368751,189318,86,174826,85,1122,45,698],"class_list":["post-778105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nicky-winmar","tag-nicky-winmar-statue","tag-optus-stadium","tag-perth-news","tag-perth-stadium","tag-sports","tag-st-kilda","tag-wa-news","tag-western-bulldogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778105","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=778105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}