Volunteer umpire Michael Delaney with his son Matthew, is hoping to put the incident involving Tony Bundy and Francesco Scordo behind him.By Callan Date
A JUNIOR football coach who punched an umpire during an under-9s match between two Endeavour Hills teams has escaped jail.
Tony Clifford Bundy, 24, was originally sentenced to one month in jail after he, and assistant coach Francesco Scordo, attacked volunteer umpire Michael Delaney during a match between Mossgiel Park and Endeavour Hills in August 2004.
Bundy faced several charges from the incident, including one count of recklessly causing injury and one count of unlawful assault.
He was sentenced to three months’ jail in April, with two months suspended for two years.
However, Bundy appealed the sentence in the County Court and was last week fined $1000 without conviction for unlawful assault.
Endeavour Hills resident Scordo, 20, also recently had his four-month jail sentence for assault wholly suspended at a County Court appeal hearing.
County Court Judge Jennifer Coate also ordered Bundy to pay $150 in costs.
The fall-out from the ugly incident has been widespread with the umpire and junior clubs involved trying to put the family fun day that went wrong behind them.
Mossgiel Park Junior Football Club secretary Ann Constance said the club was trying to move on from the incident involving the two former Mossgiel Park coaches.
“It was dealt with two years ago at club level and the courts have now dealt with it,” Ms Constance said.
She said all coaching candidates at the football club were thoroughly screened by the committee and were accredited by Football Victoria.
“We are trying to get on with it and we have got our kids to worry about now,” she said.
Attacked umpire Mr Delaney, a 41-year-old father of four from Doveton, said he had suffered chronic back pain as well as severe bruising and swelling from the assault.
“I’m happy with the decision. Everyone deserves a second chance and it was mainly the other bloke (Scordo) that was involved,” Mr Delaney said.
“I just want to get on with things now,” he said.
Football Victoria CEO Ken Gannon said the incident involving Bundy and Scordo was an isolated occurrence in junior football.
“Once the case went to court the sentences handed out were no longer a matter for Football Victoria,” Mr Gannon said.
He said Football Victoria is happy with the procedures in place with regards to umpire safety and umpire escorts are in place at all official football matches in the state.
