Football club fined for not doing enough to remove player from field during mental health issue

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian rules football club Carlton has been fined 75,000 Australian dollars ($54,000) for its lapse handling of a player's on-field mental health episode.

Elijah Hollands played in Carlton’s Australian Football League game against Collingwood on April 16, with film footage from the game causing concern for his welfare from fans and others.

The footage showed Hollands appearing confused and moving erratically, with some noting his unusual actions during the warm-up, including an attempted kick at goal which traveled only a few meters.

Hollands, 24, was admitted to hospital five days later. Elijah Hollands’s father, former AFL player Ben Hollands, pledged on social media to help his son and urged others to check on their friends if they are struggling.

Australian Football League chief Andrew Dillon on Tuesday said there were sufficient visual cues and performance data from the game, in addition to knowledge of Hollands’ history, to know that “he should have been removed from play earlier than he was."

The failure to remove Hollands from play earlier brought the game into disrepute, Dillon said, adding that the charge was against the club rather than individuals. Carlton will pay the fine to the AFL’s mental health partner, Headspace, which supports youth mental health.

“What transpired during the game was something we haven’t seen before, and while Elijah did undergo checks, he should not have been left on the field for that period of time,” Dillon said. “The incident has highlighted something important for our game: While our physical injury protocols are strong and well-understood, mental health presentations can be variable, and are complex."

Laura Kane, the AFL's executive general manager of football, said the AFL would introduce a number of measures, including setting up the employment of a full-time psychologist or the equivalent for all AFL and AFLW women's clubs.

“This has been about care, clarity and action,” Kane said. “This is bigger than one club or one night.”

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