Source : ABC NEWS
Port Adelaide star Zak Butters has been referred directly to the AFL Tribunal after allegedly asking field umpire Nick Foot: “How much are they paying you?”
Butters has been charged with “abusive and insulting language towards an umpire” following the exchange with Foot during Port’s loss to St Kilda on Sunday night.
The AFL said the exchange was not picked up on the umpire’s microphone.
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The 25-year-old defended himself after the match, saying: “I know what I said, and I didn’t say anything bad.”
“I’d love to know the language that I said because I went up to him [Foot] after the game and obviously wanted to have a chat, like two humans do, and he said he didn’t want to speak to me,” Butters told Channel 7 after the match.
“All I said was: ‘How is that a free kick?’ And he gave a 50 and said I was on report … I am curious to follow that one up because I am never going to say anything bad to the umpire.”
Port will front the tribunal on Tuesday with Butters maintaining his innocence against the charge.
Should Port fail at the tribunal, Butters is likely to face yet another fine after recently reaching the $50,000 mark in financial sanctions since making his debut in 2019.
St Kilda forward Liam Ryan was docked $1,500 last year for verbally abusing an umpire while playing for West Coast.
In 2019, former Collingwood and Carlton player Dale Thomas was sanctioned $7,500 for calling an umpire a cheat, and Sydney veteran Dane Rampe was slapped with a $5,000 fine for telling an umpire he talked “like a little girl”.
St Kilda ruck Tom De Koning was also handed a $1,500 fine — or $1,000 for an early guilty plea — for staging in the fourth quarter against Port Adelaide on Sunday.
Geelong midfielder Mark O’Connor was slapped with a one-match ban for a high bump on Eagles youngster Willem Duursma in the second quarter of the Cats’ win at Norwood Oval.
The incident was graded as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact.
O’Connor will miss Geelong’s home clash against the fourth-placed Western Bulldogs should the club accept the charge.
