Jacob van Rooyen appeal sparks AFL outcry after 'marathon' hearing

Jacob van Rooyen's trip to the AFL Appeals Board has been a success, with the Melbourne Demons forward having his two-match ban dropped. The AFL world was left in uproar both when he was initially suspended by the match review officer, and then when it was upheld on the first appeal at the AFL Tribunal.

The second appeal, which was deemed successful after four hours of deliberations, hinged on whether Van Rooyen's first appeal at the Tribunal had failed due to what the Demons argued was an 'error of law'. The decision to strike down the ban was generally applauded by the AFL community, with his ban labelled a 'joke' when it was first handed down.

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Melbourne lawyer Will Houghton was able to successfully argue that the AFL rules allowed for 'incidental contact' when going for a spoil, labelled a 'positive power' by the club. Still, the decision wasn't met with universal approval, with some believing Van Rooyen had still been careless in his attempt to spoil.

Much of the argument centred around the specific wording of law 18.5 of Australian football - which makes only a reference to 'incidental contact' occurring in the action of a spoil. The rule differs from many similar ones under current rules, which contain wording relating to 'unreasonable' contact.

Appeal Board chair Murray Kellam accepted the argument from AFL lawyer Andrew Woods that a careless action breached the duty of care players have for one another at all times on the field, but said that the Appeals Board was restricted to interpreting only the wording of the rulebook in the current guise. Woods had argued that a successfull appeal for Van Rooyen would set a precedent giving players a 'blank cheque' to act carelessly towards other players.

“(Law 18.5) refers only to incidental contact and makes no mention of unreasonable contact,” Kellam said in his reasoning for dropping Van Rooyen's ban. “These other laws, in our view, and the drafting of them support the contentions of the appellant that law 18.5 must be read in its terms.

“We recognise that the concerns expressed by the Chair of the Tribunal about an extreme characterisation of incidental contact have validity and that concern is, in our view, well justified. However, that does not permit us to interpret rule 18.5 as containing additional words, or to introduce exceptions into the meaning of law 18.5, which is not supported by the text nor, as far as we can ascertain, the spirit and intention of law 18.5."

AFL world reacts as Jacob van Rooyen's suspension overturned

Former Sydney Swans great Jude Bolton praised the decision on social media. Though conceding that Van Rooyen's spoil on Gold Coast's Charlie Ballard had been 'poorly executed', he said in his opinion it didn't meet the threshold to be suspended.

“After what seemed an eternity, it’s good to see the right result which is to allow Van Rooyen to play this weekend," Bolton wrote. "Have felt from the outset that this was a poorly executed spoil but still a footy action, which didn’t deserve a suspension.”

There wasn't unanimous approval of the verdict though. AFL writer Al Paton said while the Demons forward had been hard done by with the suspension, it was nevertheless an action that warranted some form of sanction. “I get why people were fired up about van Rooyen because I think he was genuinely trying to spoil and got a bit unlucky, but you’re still not supposed to punch guys in the face," he wrote.

Speaking before the appeal on Thursday, Melbourne teammate Jake Lever said van Rooyen's suspension could change Australian football moving forward. "If he does get off, the game continues, but if he doesn't, I think then it's going to be a bit confusing and the game might change a bit," Lever said.

"Any rule change does (change the fabric of the game), or anything that happens in the tribunal that's always a conversation, but for us, we'll just see what happens."

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