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By now we all know that the Tigers won our first match out of the shoot despite all the negative publicity going into the match! If you want to read more, click here! But how did Chaffey do? Uh...well...you see, it's like this: he didn't play. He what??? He didn't play. That probably won't come as news to many Australians, but to my American friends who may be reading, Chaffey wasn't eligible to play because the tribunal found him guilty of striking at the end of last season, penalizing him with the inability to play in the opening round of the 2004 season. Tribunal? Striking? HUH? No, we don't really have an equivalent in the NFL, although sometimes the commissioner reviews questionable situations and of course, the referees can eject players from the game for unsportsmanlike conduct. In any case, you can read all about the tribunal from the excerpts below or you can follow this link to read the entire article. AFL.com.au
Angwin, Chaffey suspended Angwin was charged by field umpire Matthew James for striking the Kangaroos’ Brady Rawlings in the fourth quarter of last Sunday’s match at Telstra Dome while Chaffey was booked by umpire Justin Schmitt for charging Hawthorn's Tim Clarke at the MCG also on Sunday. Chaffey's suspension was his second for charging in 2003. Field umpire Schmitt said he saw Chaffey crash into the back of Clarke, who was attempting to take a mark inside Hawthorn’s attacking 50, describing the contact as unreasonable and unnecessary. In his defence, Chaffey told the tribunal his intention was to mark the footy, but being a windy day, it dipped at the last minute, causing him to pull out of the contest and minimise the ‘inevitable’ contact. "If I really wanted to charge him and cause some harm I could have really run through him. I tried to avoid contact as best I could," Chaffey said. In finding Chaffey guilty, tribunal chairman Collis said the charging rule was in place to protect players marking the football, particularly overhead marks where they are vulnerable. Collis accepted the umpire’s view that the force used by Chaffey was unreasonable, unnecessary and reckless in the circumstances and rubbed him out for the opening round of the 2004 home-and-away season. The 25-year old is still eligible to participate in the pre-season competition. Chaffey pleaded guilty to charging in the Wizard Home Loans Cup pre-season competition earlier this year, where he also received a one-match ban.
So there you have it. We'll look forward to seeing Chaffey's first performance in the Premiership Season next week!
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