Magistrate Pauline Spencer told Whorouly player Trent Stanimirovitch in Wangaratta Magistrates Court that it was evident from recent examples one punch can kill.

Ms Spencer said the victim, who played for Glenrowan, was knocked unconscious, had teeth put through his lips and suffered permanent scarring.

“I have a duty to protect the community from this type of behaviour,” she said.

It was evident, Ms Spencer said, that Stanimirovitch had suffered humilation and shame from the incident in an Ovens and King Football League match last year but on-field brutality and cowardly acts would not be tolerated.

Stanimirovitch, 28, pleaded guilty to a charge of recklessly causing serious injury.

He lodged a severity appeal against the jail term and was released on bail.

Officials from Whorouly and Glenrowan were shocked by the sentence.

“I can’t comprehend how anything that happens on the footy field can end up with someone in jail,” Whorouly coach Scott McMasters said last night.

“I’m disappointed that this ended up in the court room, I mean, obviously it’s a legal matter but I didn’t think it was bad enough to send someone to jail for.

“Look at Barry Hall, he was only suspended for seven weeks and then Trent is going to jail.

“Trent is just beside himself.”

Glenrowan president Joe Bedendo said he was expecting Stanimirovitch’s punishment to be much less.

“I was expecting maybe a good behaviour bond or something, I mean, with all the things you hear other people get away with,” he said.

Last August, Mr Bedendo said Glenrowan had no choice but to cite Stanimirovitch, a former Glenrowan player and friend of his, in relation to the incident.

“I feel for him, as a personal friend of mine, because this result will stay with him for the rest of his life,” Mr Bedendo said.

“You don’t want to see anybody go to jail, but you don’t want to see anything like what happened on the footy field that day either.

“It’s a shame that it has come to this but at the same time it was a big mistake by Trent — there’s no winner here.”

Police prosecutor Sen-Constable Wayne Taylor said Stanimirovitch was playing for Whorouly in the back line against Glenrowan at home on July 14 last year.

The ball had been cleared from Whorouly’s defence in the first quarter and was 50m to 60m

away when Glenrowan’s John Hutton ran past and gave Stanimirovitch a minor bump.

Stanimirovitch followed him, punching him to the lower right chin and said: “If you do it, do it properly.”

Mr Hutton was knocked unconscious for three to four minutes, was carried from the field, took no further part in the match and suffered post-concussion syndrome.

Stanimirovitch was cited by the Glenrowan club to the league and received a six-match ban which was reduced on appeal.

He was interviewed by police on September 11 last year but declined to make any comment.

Solicitor Trish Devlin said Stanimirovitch was a highly regarded footballer, had previously played for Glenrowan and it was “not a happy separation” when he left.

She said Mr Hutton did not seek medical treatment at the time.

She said Stanimirovitch was charged with an assault matter in 1998 and received a three-month jail term suspended for two years in 2003 after hitting someone with one punch when leaving a licensed premises.

He has relocated from Wangaratta to Wodonga after considerable publicity about the incident and commutes daily to work with a Wangaratta building company.

Ms Devlin said Stanimirovitch attended anger management counselling in 2004.

She said Stanimirovitch had the week after the incident apologised to another man asking him to pass the message on to Mr Hutton, saying: “I meant to hit him, but not that hard”.

Sen-Constable Taylor said there was a need for Ms Spencer to send out a message to the community on how the court viewed the incident.

He said the case could not be viewed in isolation with Stanimirovitch’s record and the need for specific and general deterrence.

Two other charges of offensive manner and drunk in a public place from an incident at a Wangaratta hotel in October last year were proven and dismissed.