Toby Greene committed one of the WORST acts that we have ever witnessed on a football field in GWS’s win over Sydney in the Elimination Final on Saturday afternoon.
The Giant’s star forward physically assaulted an umpire on his way to the huddle at the three quarter time break.
We’ve completed our homework and have found footage of equally-as-bad run ins with the officials in many other professional sports leagues around the world and complied them all in the same place.
Officials are the lifeblood of our sports and they should be treated like an endangered species and protected at all costs.
Imagine sport without them?
We’d just be watching world class athletes perform at the highest level in front of thousands of adoring fans, broadcast right across the world on t.v.
Greene is the Giants MVP and he will be sorely missed this weekend in the semi final against Geelong and throughout the first half of next season.
Here are some of the other Worst Player/Umpire Altercations in the history of sport.
TOBY GREENE
12 weeks minimum.
.@RalphyHeraldSun reports Toby Greene is likely to be sent straight to the tribunal. pic.twitter.com/ttCVEvnZSh
— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) August 29, 2021
PHIL CARMEN
Fabulous Phil made a famous move from Melbourne to Essendon and had an almost immediate impact at his new club.
By headbutting the boundary umpire.
He copped a 20 game suspension.
It wasn’t the only time he was suspended for striking a boundary umpire either.
In an ACTFL game back in 1983, he was suspended for 10 weeks for striking boundary umpire Andrew Toy in a match for Eastlake.
JOHN BOURKE
In one of the biggest dummy spits in the history of the sporting universe, John Bourke firstly kicked an opponent in the groin, then pushed and kicked the umpire on the ground, elbowed his team’s runner and then jumped into the stands and attacked a fan.
The whole incident was fascinating as was the commentating.
Despite pleading not guilty for the initial kick, he was given a 10 year suspension from the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDMlxoUhPSo
CRISTIANO RONALDO
Ronaldo dives. Cops a second yellow.
His ego is hurt so he pushes referee.
Fin.
BRETT LAWRIE
Abusing an umpire is baseball = okay
Throwing your helmet at an umpire = not okay
Dennis Wideman
Calgary Flames defenceman Dennis Wideman copped the second harshest penalty in NHL history when he got a 20-game suspension for this hit.
Linesman Don Henderson later sought compensation in the area of $10 million in damages.
Paul Pierce
Paul Pierce was celebrating a bucket when he accidentally landed a beauty of a right cross on the referee.
No suspension.
Vido Loncar
Safe to say Croatian Vido Loncar was not happy when his fight was controversially stopped.
He took matters into his own hands and was arrested on the spot and subsequently banned for life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c5SyXH1Lxo
Serena Williams
During the U.S Open in 2009 Serena Williams thought it was a good idea to threaten a line judge who accused her of saying “I will kill you”.
It was her second violation for the match after smashing her racquet earlier and she lost via DQ.
CONOR MCGREGOR
Conor McGregor had clearly had a skin full and thought he was invincible after his teammate Charlie Ward won his fight in Bellator back in 2017.
He stormed the cage and congratulated him before teeing off on the referee for no particular reason.
MIKE TYSON
Wrestling has a long history of referee altercations, none being more famous than Mike Tyson’s post-match scuffle with Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 14.
Iron Mike’s famous fast three count in HBK’s WWF Championship match against Stone Cold remains one of the most iconic moments in wrestling to date, succeeded only by his uppercut on Michaels in the centre of the ring.