Mitchell Taylor, of Wanderers Football Club, appeared before the Tribunal tonight to answer the charge of forceful front on contact on Tai Martin-Page of Darwin Buffaloes Football Club, in the first quarter of the Round 12 TIO NTFL Men’s Premier League match between Wanderers and Darwin at TIO Stadium on Saturday 6 January 2018.
Taylor pleaded not guilty to the charge.
In summary, Taylor was found guilty of forceful front on contact.
Based on the evidence available, the Tribunal re-classified the incident as careless conduct (down from intentional) but kept it as high impact and high contact, resulting in a three-match penalty.
He has already served one-match of the three-match penalty.
Following the hearing, Wanderers Football Club President, Ben Cocker issued the following statement:
Firstly and most importantly, Mitchell and the whole Wanderers Football Club want to again relay our best wishes to Tai Martin-Page. Our thoughts are with Tai, his Buffaloes teammates, his family and his friends. Tai has all our hopes for the best possible recovery.
For the purposes of the Tribunal hearing tonight, the focus was necessarily on Mitchell, but nothing that could have happened tonight could detract from the serious injury that Tai has suffered and the hard rehabilitation pathway that he has in front of him.
Whether or not Mitchell received a suspension tonight would not have changed the unfortunate reality of things. Tai would still be seriously injured and Mitchell would still have to come to terms with being involved in a collision that has had such a devastating effect on Tai’s life.
However, we are disappointed that the Tribunal imposed a penalty for Mitchell. Mitchell is a fair player whose intentions were solely to contest a loose ball and he contested that loose ball in a reasonable fashion. In contact sports such as footy there is scope for such unfortunate incidents to occur where nobody is at fault. In saying this though, in the interests of moving on, Mitchell accepts the Tribunal’s decision and his suspension.
Now that the Tribunal process has concluded, we ask that the focus now return to where it is needed – that is ensuring that Tai has all the support possible from the football community for the road ahead.
In this regard, we encourage people to visit and donate to the Go Fund Me page that has been recently established. Once again, Mitchell and the whole Wanderers Football Club wish Tai all the best for his recovery.
