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Umpire abuse lands Thomas at AFL tribunal

3 minute read

Carlton veteran Dale Thomas will front the AFL tribunal for umpire abuse, a week after Sydney's Dane Rampe copped a hefty fine for the same crime.

Dale Thomas
Dale Thomas Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

A week after Dane Rampe copped a hefty fine for sledging an umpire, Carlton's Dale Thomas is at the mercy of the AFL tribunal for the same crime.

Thomas will front the tribunal on Tuesday night after being charged with umpire abuse during the Blues' massive loss to GWS in Sydney.

The Blues veteran called boundary umpire Michael Barlow a "cheat", prompting match review officer Michael Christian to send the matter straight to the tribunal.

Christian had the option of handing Thomas a $1500 misconduct fine but decided against that after consulting with football operations boss Steve Hocking.

"We considered what was said serious enough to be sent straight to the tribunal," Christian said.

Sydney co-captain Rampe was last week fined $10,000 by the AFL - half of which was suspended - for telling an umpire he talked "like a little girl".

In that case, the matter - along with Rampe's goalpost-climbing incident from the same game - was taken out of Christian's hands, and Rampe was booked by Hocking for 'conduct unbecoming or prejudicial to the interests of the AFL'.

Hocking slammed Rampe's verbals, which came while fuming about a call from umpire Jacob Mollison that he didn't hear, as "derogatory" and "completely unacceptable".

Both Sydney and the AFL players' union described the fine as excessive, and the Swans considered appealing the sanction before opting to let it stand.

Thomas might not be the only player before the tribunal on Tuesday night.

Christian handed down one-game bans to Collingwood's Travis Varcoe, Richmond's Ivan Soldo and Brisbane's Rhys Mathieson, having already applied the same sanction to West Coast's Lewis Jetta in the review of Friday night's game.

The Eagles have accepted Jetta's rough conduct suspension but the other clubs have until Tuesday morning to decide whether to head to the tribunal.

Soldo and Mathieson were both charged with striking, while Varcoe was booked for forceful front-on contact against St Kilda opponent Ed Phillips.

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