Suspended Manawatu footballer claims assault

KIRK HARGREAVES/The Press

POINTING THE BONE: Referee Campbell-Kirk Waugh and Manawatu's captain Adam Cowan debate the red-card decision against an irate Cory Chettleburgh, right, at Christchurch.

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Cory Chettleburgh has admitted he should have kept his mouth shut during a bizarre, heated incident in YoungHeart Manawatu's NZFC loss to Canterbury United at Christchurch on Sunday.

But he didn't expect alleged retaliation from the referee's assistant, Paul Cook.

Both Chettleburgh and coach Bob Sova claimed Cook pushed the midfielder in the face soon after he had been fouled by an opponent.

It came in the 50th minute of the game and when the referee red-carded Chettleburgh, it also spelled the end of any Manawatu resistance.

"I got fouled and they didn't call anything," Chettleburgh recounted.

He said he had turned and was running back on to the field.

"The linesman stepped on to the field. I wasn't looking at him and as I've gone past, he pushed me in the face. He came at me, but I didn't fall over."

Chettleburgh had said, "put up your flag" after the foul and admitted he coloured it with swear words. "I've said heaps worse things to linos and ref's before."

Chettleburgh has been automatically suspended and the length of the term will hinge on evidence.

But irate YoungHeart Manawatu chairman Paul Barris is spitting sparks and wants the official to be banned.

"If there has been a physical altercation between a player and an official, we would expect nothing less than the person found guilty be banned from the game.

"It's not acceptable is it? We won't let this go."

Barris has asked New Zealand Football to investigate and is confident the right decision will be made. NZF's operations manager Glyn Taylor has called for reports from the referees and YoungHeart Manawatu and for all media comment to come from him.

Manawatu general manager Kevin Monk doesn't want young international Chettleburgh's record to be tagged with a violent conduct charge.

The official match sheet is understood to have stated Chettleburgh was dismissed for "violent conduct" involving an assault on a match official.

Taylor said it could be as late as Thursday before he can reveal more details. For any player dismissal, the referee has three days to file a report. A judicial hearing could be convened or it might be dealt with internally.

"I don't have a high degree of tolerance for violence on the field," Taylor said. "Violence from player to official or official to player or player to player won't be tolerated."

Sova fears the assistant referee could get off scot free and that the process could be heavily biased in terms of punishment.

He claims the linesman lost the plot and pushed his man.

"If it had been in reverse, he [Chettleburgh] would've been up for a life ban."

Sova knows Chettleburgh gave the assistant referee a verbal spray and interspersed it with the "eff word".

"But he didn't get booked for any of that," Sova said.

Cook, formerly of Palmerston North with the New Zealand Defence Force, was not answering calls yesterday.

- © Fairfax NZ News