- AFL president breaks silence on effect of court case
- Carl Ditterich accused of multiple sexual crimes against minors
- The former St Kilda star will appear in court again on June 28
AFL president Richard Goyder says the league will wait for Carl Ditterich’s court case to play out before deciding whether to ban him from the Hall of Fame.
Rules introduced last year allow the AFL to expel the former St Kilda champion regardless of the court outcome, but Goyder said the league would not react immediately.
Ditterich, 78, faces three counts of indecent assault and one count of gross indecency in the presence of a child under 16.
Ditterich is alleged to have assaulted the boy in Heatherton, in Melbourne’s south-east, in 1985.
The member of St Kilda’s century team was due to appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday, but his lawyer Tony Hargreaves provided a letter from Bendigo Health excusing him on medical grounds.
He is due back in court on June 28 for an arraignment.
AFL president Richard Goyder says the league will wait for Carl Ditterich’s (pictured) court case to play out before deciding whether to remove him from the Hall of Fame.
The former St Kilda star will be next to hit the frontcourt on June 28.
Goyder said Monday the AFL would allow court proceedings to play out before making a decision on Ditterich’s place in the Hall of Fame.
‘We didn’t find out until Friday. “There is a judicial process that will unfold,” he said Monday.
“Obviously last year we made amendments at the commission level on how we handle circumstances like that and when there is a finding, so we’ll wait for this court process to play out and then determine if there is any action.”
The AFL Commission changed its Hall of Fame bylaws in June last year to allow it to revoke or suspend the membership of former players who have been charged with or found guilty of an indictable offence.
The move came after Hall of Fame legend Barry Cable was found guilty of repeated sexual abuse of a young girl during his playing career.
The former football star faces three counts of indecent assault and one count of gross indecency in the presence of a child under 16.
It means the league could revoke Ditterich’s membership even if the court finds him innocent.
Hall of Famers could also be removed under the new rules if they engaged in conduct that the commission decided could “bring into disrepute the AFL, the Hall of Fame member, any AFL club or Australian Rules Football.” “.
When the AFL removed Cable from the Hall of Fame, Goyder said the AFL had no choice but to respond to the “horrible” findings of the civil lawsuit against him.
“(The) civil case and Judge Herron’s findings make it very clear that under the rules that we promulgated … in terms of the Hall of Fame, this is appropriate,” Goyder said last year.
“Our thoughts are with the woman involved and others who were brave enough to come forward in the civil action and air the issues that occurred in their lives.”