A New South Wales soccer player has confirmed he is ready to go to the Australian Supreme Court in his fight to overturn a 20-year ban.
Matt Nean, a former bush footy player for Group 4 club West Tamworth Lions, was granted the penalty after being found guilty of deliberately shouldering the referee during his team’s grand final loss to North Tamworth in 2016.
He was charged with misconduct and offered an 18-week suspension. His decision to fight the charge extended the ban to 20 years when the judiciary panel found him guilty.
Nean was one of seven Lions players sent off by referee James Brown in the farcical decision which was called off 10 minutes early by match officials after the Lions were reduced to six players.
Nean’s brother Sean was handed a suspended prison sentence for his actions during the harmful contest.
Sean Nean was banned for 30 years by the Group 4 judiciary after being found guilty of headbutting a rival player and making contact with Brown’s head.
Matt Nean, however, now claims that he never intended to make contact with Brown and new vision of the incident has emerged to support his argument.
Lieut The Sydney Morning HeraldNean’s lawyers earlier this year asked the NSWRL to review its verdict.
The NSWRL refused.
His case returned to the headlines this week after video of the incident came to light.
Journalist Angus Thomson was the first to share two different videos of the incident.
There has been an outpouring of support for Nean on social media since the video was posted recently. It shows that the contact between Nean and Brown was incidental and was only made when the referee held his arm while awarding a penalty.
Nean told SBS he wants the ban reversed so he can see his children play the sport and work to coach younger participants in the future.
His ban outlaws him from having any involvement in the sport on an official basis.
He said he was told to leave the places earlier when they were watching his children play.
“That’s the thing that breaks me the most. When I’m told I can’t even watch it, it takes a toll. Not only on me, but on my kids and my partner,” he said.
“My whole family is affected by this.”
He has now confirmed to nine.com.au that he is ready to take his challenge to the Supreme Court.
“It shattered me,” Nyan said.
“When they said 20 years, I thought it was a joke… I soon realized it wasn’t.
– I cried the whole night.
“Even in the judiciary, the referee wanted to change the charge against me from ‘shoulder charge’ to ‘incidental contact’, but he said he couldn’t.
“They won’t let me use the video, which showed that I just accidentally brushed past him (the referee).
“The deadline for an appeal is approaching and we have tried every way to get the ban overturned or reduced.
“The Supreme Court is my last chance. I don’t want to take this kind of action, but it seems I have no other choice.”
During the challenge of the first ban in 2016, Country Rugby League boss Terry Quinn said: “There is an absolute zero tolerance by the game at all levels for this sort of offence, whether it is physical contact or verbal abuse from our match officials .
“In the case of Matt Nean, you are talking about a repeat offender who has only just returned from serving a lengthy suspension for a similar offence.
“It is indefensible conduct that deserves the harshest of penalties.”
The Neon Brothers were also sent off in the 2015 Grand Final. Matt Nean was handed a 14-week ban and only played three matches during the 2016 season before being sent off in the grand final.
Matt was found guilty of verbally abusing and threatening an umpire after originally sin-binding during the 2015 game.
He is now desperate to get one last chance at the sport he loves.
