The Sydney Swans said a public farewell to Barry
Hall at the game against Essendon on July 11, 2009.
At half time, Hall did a lap of the SCG in the back of a
ute. There were no brain snaps during his lap of the
ground.
Barry Hall Quits Sydney
Swans
July 7, 2009: Barry Hall has announced his retirement
from the Sydney Swans.
After what was argauably too many 'brain snaps', Barry
Hall annnounced his retirement from the Sydney Swans and, for
the time being, AFL football. Hall was suspected to be
under pressure from the Swans coaching staff and possibly his
team mates due to his remarkable ability to
accumulate suspensions and give away crucial free kicks and 50
metre penalties.
Hall is quoted as
saying: "I can't promise
whether there's going to be another indiscretion again. I can't
explain the last indiscretion. So I can't promise that. So I
think it's a real risk for me and the football club if I do go
on that things will turn really ugly."
A few days after announcing his retirement, Barry
Hall was interviewed by the Footy Show:
Barry Hall - Ready to
Retire
Barry Hall
Gives Away Three 50 metre penalties (that's a triple 50m
penalty)
Barry Hall Tribunal Hearing
Barry Hall runs into fence and
receives a broken wrist
Barry Hall strikes Brent
Staker
Barry Hall Hall AFL Ad
1
Barry Hall Hall AFL
Ad 2
Barry Hall Cannot Be Penalised for Holding the
Ball
Barry Hall strikes Matt Maguire in slow
motion
Barry Hall v. Broadford (Ford
Ad)
Barry Hall Gets 7
Weeks
Barry Hall has been
suspended for seven weeks for striking Brent
Staker in the Sydney Swans match against the
West Coast Eagles at ANZ Stadium on Saturday
night.
Video seems to
show Hall having at least one other
unsuccessful attempt to land a meaningful blow
on Staker a few seconds before the assault that
earned him this suspension, however
media and
fans seem divided over whether Hall's punch was
an out-of-character one-off incident or another
example of a prolonged career of
thuggery.
There are enough
previous examples to support the
latter, with Hall's striking charge this
week bringing him a total of 12
tribunal appearances for 7 convictions and a
total of 23 weeks'
suspensions.
Two other aspects to
the debate are whether a player's
suspensions should only take effect once he has
recovered from injury, and whether deliberate
acts of violence on the field should resuilt in
removal from the field. If a player is
prepared to commit such severe unlawful acts to
try to gain an advantage for his team
(and/or create a disadvantage to his
opposition), should the logical move be
immediate removal from the field of the
offending player
himself.
In Hall's defence, his
counsel Terry Forrest, QC, acknowledged
that this was a serious case of striking
but not a "worst case scenario". According to
the AFL's guidelines, kicking and charging
are worse offences than
striking. Part of Halls'
representation highlighted that Staker,
although concussed by Hall, suffered
"relatively slight"
injuries.
Barry Hall was last night reported as
describing the sentence as fair. "Just in terms
of the outcome I was prepared to cop whatever
came my way," Hall said. "Seven weeks I think
is
fair."Hall made another public apology to
Staker, but this could have been stage-managed
damage control by Swans administrators, a
prudent well-worn strategy for a club that,
perhaps more than any other in the AFL, has
been built on PR and
marketing.
Among those unconvinced
by Hall's explanation of events was AFL counsel
Jeff Gleeson, SC. He described the punch
as violent and dangerous, and questioned
how Hall, a former boxer,
could strike someone in the face with a
full shoulder rotation and not expect to cause
severe damage.
Hall benefited from
pleading guilty, with a sentencing discount of
25 per cent.