NSW Police has issued a youth caution to the fan, who has also been banned from the SCG for two years.
Richmondās Noah Balta has avoided jail after pleading guilty to assaulting a man outside a club in the NSW Riverina late last year.
But the AFL premiership player must be on his best behaviour after being convicted, fined $3000 and sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order in the Corowa Local Court on Monday.
The court imposed a 10pm to 6am curfew unless he is seeking urgent medical treatment.
His lawyer asked for that to be changed for work but the magistrate said the curfew is a punishment ā meaning Balta is in line to miss any night games.
Balta is also not permitted to enter the Mulwala Ski Club where the assault took place.
How can he play then?
Really a CCO?
Balta can still play twilight games but must be back home before 10pm.
Also itās not clear if the curfew will be imposed Australia wide, as that will rule him out of the Tigersā interstate matches.
The curfew means Balta will miss this Thursday nightās clash against Melbourne at the MCG.
EDIT: the curfew is for three months as reported in the Fox Sports article below.
The sanctioned CCO includes a night curfew ā where he cannot leave his house between 10pm and 6am ā for three months, which is set to disrupt Baltaās playing schedule as multiple night games await on the Tigersā fixture.
Less night games for the Tigers next year?
The curfew is only for the first three months of the CCO.
Wow, not really a deterrent to anyone to not go and bash someone up is it.
Early plea and being an AFL player doing a lot of heavy lifting imo.
Should have thought of that before committing a crime. If I had this sort of criminal record I wouldnāt be able to work in my job. And Iām on a lot less than he is.
I agree, Iām saying he shouldnāt be able to.
Itās a disgrace the AFL hasnāt imposed a heavier sanction on him.
The Age website has a list of upcoming matches during the period of Baltaās curfew.
Balta issued an apology this afternoon.
I apologise to the victim, my family and friends, and everyone associated with the Richmond Football Club.
I have let a lot of people down and the lesson has been learned that violence is never the answer.
I will continue to work to improve myself to ensure this never happens again.
UPDATE: the AFL also released a statement, saying the league would take no further action following the sentencing.
Weak as piss.
I half expected based on similar cases that have been before the court here he might even have got off with as little as a good behaviour bond.
The curfew and lack of exemption for Richmond games is quite fair in my view, gives the penalty a bit more bite than it might have had otherwise (given that a full custodial sentence was very unlikely given his lack of priors, guilty plea and the restitution he has made since then with the victim).
I have to agree and even though I am not happy heās still playing , but I think at this point, if he is sincere and is willing to improve himself then I think he deserves a second chance. There are so many aspects of this that has been fascinating to me from the sociology and criminological perspective that has made me question my intiiation reaction while writing about this for my personal blog. (Which is not online, only on my local serve)