“Mad Monday” is a pretty tame pseudonym for what is fast becoming “Fucking stupid awful behaviour by fucking stupid awful people Monday”. St Kilda player Clinton Jones was fined $3000 this week for lighting a dwarf entertainer’s clothes on fire at a Saints end of season celebration, and now a high-profile Brisbane Lions player is being investigated after a wheelchair-bound man alleged the footballer assaulted him, threw food at him and took his cab last Sunday night.
41-year-old Robert Partridge told the Courier Mail “I was in the process of rolling down the hill to the cab rank and as I came down the corner there is a particular rough surface, that’s when I hit (came across) this idiot and he was running at me screaming ‘wheelchair, wheelchair, wheelchair’… He ended up coming behind me and launching forward, pushing me.”
He said probably the most appropriate thing anyone could have at that moment: “What the fuck are you doing, you cunt?”. He alleges that the player and his “eight or nine mates” pushed past him and entered the cab, the player throwing a kebab at the man while he did so.
Partridge made a formal complaint to the Indooroopilly Criminal Investigation Branch regarding the incident. The Brisbane Lions have issued a statement this morning:
“The Brisbane Lions are aware of serious allegations made against one of its players regarding an alleged incident on Sunday night.
The Club has launched an immediate investigation into the matter as it had not previously been made aware of the allegations.
The Club will make further comment once it is in a position to do so.”
AFL boss Andrew Demitriou told 3AW radio he had spoken to the Lions, but “We’re just getting sketchy details at the moment – it is just a report.”
“I don’t want to prejudge what happened in Brisbane because I’m not certain of what has happened there. I think it is very important that we get the facts about what happened.“
Demitriou said he’d be happy to see the back of the AFL’s traditional Mad Monday celebrations. “I’ve been saying (Mad Monday) is a thing of the past for a while – unfortunately there is still some remnants of days gone by…. Hopefully lessons will be learned even from this year.”
Via couriermail.com.au
