THE teenage victim of an on-field assault by Wangaratta soccer stalwart Mario Antonello told a court he had suffered “physically, emotionally and socially” because of the attack.
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Tanner Browne, 16, a player for Albury's Boomers FC, gave the account in a victim impact statement he read to Wangaratta Court on Friday after Antonello was found guilty of unlawful assault.
Antonello, 32, was put on a good behaviour bond without conviction and ordered to pay $750 to Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital by magistrate Stella Stuthridge.
The court heard Antonello and Tanner clashed in a reserve grade game in Wangaratta on July 5 last year.
Ms Stuthridge found Antonello deliberately ran towards Tanner after Wangaratta City scored and struck him to “rub it in” over a mistake the Boomer had made which led to a goal.
She said the conduct showed recklessness and was not in the rules of the sport and nor was it necessary.
The verdict came after a three-day hearing which heard the pair had sledged each other and Antonello had stepped on Tanner's feet and made the teenager flinch after running at him.
In telling of the impact, Tanner said he was “embarrassed and humiliated by the actions of Mario Antonello” that he did not understand.
He said he had lost his love for soccer and was “scared” someone else might do the same thing to him.
In his evidence, Antonello said Tanner had been “mouthing off” and called him a “s--- c---”, “wog c---” and “fat c---”.
He said Tanner had turned to Boomers supporters and “said really loudly, ‘this bloke must weigh 200 kilos’.”
“That's when I stood on his toes and said ‘I think it's roughly about 210”,” Antonello said.
In cross examination, Antonello told the police prosecutor he did not suffer from white line fever and was disappointed rather than angry over Tanner’s slurs.
Tanner had testified Antonello hit him in the back from behind, but the older player gave another account of the clash after the goal.
“I say that he looked over his right shoulder and saw me coming and took half a step in my direction,” Antonello said.
He said he “had no intention of physically hurting him at all”.
“I have not injured a player on purpose in 25 years (of playing),” Antonello said.
Boomers FC coach Andrew Grove said Antonello “dropped his shoulder and hit Tanner in the back”.
He said Antonello approached him at half-time of the match and said: “I've done the wrong thing, I'd like to apologise”.
No officials told of seeing the clash and a disciplinary hearing resulted in no action against Antonello, his barrister Jenny Clark told the court.
