Far South Coast Football Association president Kerri Warren wants to make it clear plans were in place to try and curb negative comments during Sunday’s grand final.
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“We don’t want people to think we were just sitting back and letting it happen,” Ms Warren said.
“It’s not acceptable in our association and we’re trying to curb that behaviour.”
“The FSC Association did have a plan ahead of the day, it didn’t quite work, but we’re trying to make it better and had planned around what we thought would work best.”
It was discussed at an association level and agreed that two officials would be nominated from each club to manage their own crowds during each game.
“It didn’t work, people weren’t as willing as we hoped to intercept that kind of behaviour.”
Given the long-standing rivalry between Bega and Wolumla and the competitive nature of first grade, Ms Warren said the association was expecting a tense encounter, but she was both shocked and appalled by some of the comments made during play.
Ms Warren said it was particularly concerning to see some of the abuse directed at young referee Theo Dracopolous.
“We don’t accept that kind of abuse on any level,” she said, noting that all the junior match officials had done an upstanding job with some more senior officials away ill or with family circumstances.
Ms Warren said the association had been a big supporter of the Shh for Kids week campaign and could adopt the ‘Silent Sundays’ campaign where all spectators are required to be quiet.
She said the insults and comments had a hugely negative impact saying many left “feeling deflated”, while earlier games had been much more respectful and well-contested.
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