St Kilda youngster Lance Collard is under investigation after being accused of making homophobic comments to multiple opponents against Williamstown in a VFL match on the weekend.
Collard could face a lengthy ban if he is proven guilty, after the AFL handed Gold Coast defender Wil Powell a five-match ban for his own homophobic comments earlier in the year.
Fox Footy’s Jon Ralph reported for the Herald Sun that the allegations involve multiple f-word slurs and multiple victims.
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Collard has played three matches in his debut campaign for the Saints after being drafted as a lively small forward out of Subiaco.
The AFL integrity unit have been speaking to Williamstown players about the issue and there are claims that the slurs were audible to many players on the ground, per The Age’s Peter Ryan.
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Earlier this year, Port Adelaide forward Jeremy Finlayson copped a three-match ban for making homophobic comments against Essendon and at the time, the league made it clear that they would be cracking down.
“It is extremely disappointing to be dealing with a similar incident in only a matter of weeks,” AFL legal boss Stephen Meade said.
“We foreshadowed both publicly and privately that after what transpired at Gather Round if a similar incident was to happen there would be further consequence.
“There could be no clearer message – homophobia has no place in our game, nor in society. We want all people in the community to feel welcomed in our game and comments such as Powell’s only takes away from this. As a code, as a community, we all must be better.”
More to come…