Barry Hall Head Lock

I am absolutely STUNNED and disgusted that Barry Hall was let off by the AFL tribunal and only fined $3k.

Apparently I am completely out of touch with what is acceptable in the AFL today…. Umpire Boss Jeff Giescham phoned Barry’s coach to express that “Barry had handled himself extremely well”, plus I also just read that The Herald Sun ran a poll which had over 1400 responses with 78% voting that “Barry Hall’s penalty was harsh enough”.

“Was harsh enough”??? Are you kidding me? He put the guy in a sleeper-hold (chokehold) headlock and possibly could have killed him. And what for? Because the guy was niggling him (not unusual in AFL) and bumped him whilst he was trying to tie up his shoe lace. Oh come on, I have seen far worse actions on the football field.

I agree that Barry maybe should have been given a free kick, and also allowed to push or bump him back. Surely a bump for a bump is ok, but I fail to see how a bump should make it ok for one of the toughest men in AFL to attempt to make the offending person unconscious.

Two similar situations have occurred in the past and I think it’s time the AFL did something about it. Brad Fox still remembers vividly when he “said goodbye to his family” in a deadly headlock by Tony Locket. And Danny Southern worried that he had killed Peter Sumich when Sumich went limp (unconscious) in his chokehold.

These days a very minor headbutt (a mere touching of foreheads), or even the slightest accidental contact to the head in a bump results in weeks and weeks of suspension!

Let’s get real – Barry’s intention was “bye bye – lights out” – and he very nearly achieved it.

It should have been 8+ weeks suspension and a $35k fine… that’s getting close to “harsh enough”.