{"id":899847,"date":"2026-09-21T08:06:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T08:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/899847\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T08:06:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T08:06:19","slug":"afl-nrl-fan-behaviour-spectators-hurling-projectiles-at-match-officials-is-wrong-and-should-never-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/899847\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL, NRL fan behaviour: Spectators hurling projectiles at match officials is wrong, and should never happen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opinion<\/p>\n

\"TomTom Decent<\/a>SMH chief sports writer<\/p>\n

September 21, 2026 \u2014 1:45pm<\/p>\n

September 21, 2026 \u2014 1:45pm<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

AAA<\/p>\n

When the Victorian premier and the unofficial prime minister of New Zealand, Warriors great Shaun Johnson, are sticking the boot into sporting crowds over bad behaviour, it\u2019s clear things have gone too far.<\/p>\n

It was a grim weekend across the AFL and NRL as two thrilling games of football were marred by a handful ofangry spectators hurling projectiles at match officials.<\/p>\n

Cans and bottles were thrown<\/a> at umpires during Hawthorn\u2019s defeat to Brisbane in Saturday night\u2019s preliminary final, while referee Ashley Klein was targeted after a controversial finish to the Warriors-Knights semi-final at Eden Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Arguably the worst incident of the lot, however, was the Hawthorn fan at the MCG who allegedly threw a plate of nachos at a woman and her eight-year-old son, prompting Victoria Police to launch an investigation.<\/p>\n

The AFL said the behaviour, across the board, had \u201ccrossed the line\u201d and warned those responsible could be banned for a minimum of five years. The NRL was equally unimpressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was scared,\u201d the boy told Nine News. \u201cI don\u2019t understand why anyone would do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CansCans and bottles on the ground at the MCG on Saturday night.Getty Images<\/p>\n

His mother, Rose, told 3AW: \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely disgusting behaviour, and I am just sick of going out in Melbourne and being worried for my safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawthorn fans might have felt robbed by umpire Hayden Meyer\u2019s decision to penalise Jarman Impey for holding the ball, which gifted Brisbane\u2019s Hugh McCluggage<\/a> the goal that put the Lions in front with seconds remaining.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Warriors supporters may have felt that Klein had dudded them by not awarding a penalty over Tyson Frizell\u2019s escort on Leka Halasima in the dying stages of their 12-10 loss to Newcastle at Eden Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Debate those calls, and boo if you must. Complain about them all the way home. Write about it in a longer-than-necessary Facebook post.<\/p>\n

\"UmpiresUmpires dodge projectiles as they exit the ground.AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

But nothing gives a fan the right to hurl a beer can or water bottle at an official simply doing their job. The lack of respect is astounding.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think these people should be made an example of,\u201d said Victorian Premier Ben Carroll. \u201cThis could have had catastrophic injuries. If one of those bottles or cans hit an umpire on the head, who knows what could\u2019ve happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes they do land.<\/p>\n

In 2005, Australia\u2019s one-day cricketers found themselves on the receiving end of a particularly hostile New Zealand crowd in Wellington. Matthew Hayden was spat on, Simon Katich was hit by bottles near the boundary, and Glenn McGrath became furious with security staff over a perceived lack of protection.<\/p>\n

\"RefereeReferee Ashley Klein leaves Eden Park on Sunday.X\/@centralNRL<\/p>\n

Captain Ricky Ponting eventually called a halt to play to speak with the umpires and demand a greater police presence. This had come after an array of projectiles including golf balls, food scraps, a three-seater couch, a toilet seat and frozen fish had been thrown towards Australian cricketers over the years while playing in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

That 2005 controversy made its way to the highest office in the land.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not peculiar to New Zealand, it\u2019s not peculiar to Australia,\u201d said then Australian prime minister John Howard. \u201cWhen there\u2019s bad behaviour, we shouldn\u2019t get too self-righteous.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than two decades later, issues are still arising.<\/p>\n

Angry fans might convince themselves the players they idolise appreciate them venting their frustration on their behalf. The reality is quite the opposite. It is cringeworthy, as Johnson made clear following the Warriors\u2019 loss.<\/p>\n

Perhaps some of the 48,511 Warriors fans who filled Eden Park could not comprehend seeing a Kiwi team lose to an Australian side, given the Wallabies haven\u2019t beaten the All Blacks there since 1986.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt leaves a bit of a sour taste in your mouth,\u201d Johnson said on Sky Sports. \u201cThere\u2019s just no need for it. It\u2019s just embarrassing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Nicho<\/a><\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t help when the players set the tone. Seconds after the siren at the MCG, Hawthorn\u2019s James Sicily and Tom Barrass were in the face of umpire Meyer, remonstrating over a decision almost everyone not wearing brown and gold agreed was correct.<\/p>\n

Moments later, bottles were raining down from the stands.<\/p>\n

There is a line between passion for your team and putting people\u2019s safety at risk. The events of the weekend hardly compare with some of the ugliest scenes seen overseas \u2013 including the Celtic-Rangers soccer game in Scotland on Sunday, where a bus carrying fans caught fire amid suspected vandalism \u2013 but that is hardly the point.<\/p>\n

The AFL and NRL, with the backing of police, need to come down hard on spectators who cross that line. Five-year bans are a start.<\/p>\n

The AFL issued one such suspension earlier this year, to a Swans fan who threw a drink bottle at Hawthorn player Nick Watson at the MCG in March.<\/p>\n

On Friday night at the SCG, there was none of that same anger at the culmination of the Swans\u2019 agonising preliminary final defeat to Fremantle<\/a>. Just pure disbelief that their side had managed a solitary point in the last quarter, as the Dockers came from 21 points down at three-quarter time to win by 12.<\/p>\n

Fans are entitled to get angry, and they are entitled to think an umpire or referee got it horribly wrong. Feeling angry is where it should end.<\/p>\n

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Friday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

\"TomTom Decent<\/a> is the chief sports writer for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opinion Tom DecentSMH chief sports writer September 21, 2026 \u2014 1:45pm September 21, 2026 \u2014 1:45pm Save You…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":899848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-899847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899847","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=899847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}