May 20, 2007
From Sunday Tasmanian
Reported by Adam Smith
Devils' half-forward Matthew Westfield, running back with the flight to try to mark the ball, crashed into the post at full throttle, snapping it near its base.
The falling goalpost hit Coburg youngster Luke McGuane who left the ground holding his left shoulder but he later returned to the field to finish the game.
The incident occurred 10 minutes into the final quarter.
Reported by Adam Smith
TWO VFL players were lucky to escape serious injury at Bellerive Oval yesterday when a goalpost crashed to the ground during the Tasmania-Coburg clash.
Devils' half-forward Matthew Westfield, running back with the flight to try to mark the ball, crashed into the post at full throttle, snapping it near its base.
The falling goalpost hit Coburg youngster Luke McGuane who left the ground holding his left shoulder but he later returned to the field to finish the game.
The incident occurred 10 minutes into the final quarter.
The game was stopped for 15 minutes while officials hastily erected a replacement post.
Weighing just 90kg, Westfield surprised himself after the goalpost came off second best.
"The ball came in deep and I thought I was a fair chance for a mark," Westfield said.
"I wasn't aware of where the posts were, I just jumped and ran into something and didn't know what it was until I saw it (the post) on the ground.
"It didn't hurt at all, I'm pretty happy with that. To see it actually snap, I can't believe it, it didn't feel that hard."
AFL Tasmania general manager Scott Wade was singing the praises of TCA groundstaff after the match for their quick thinking that kept the delay in proceedings to a minimum.
But tongue in cheek, Mr Wade suggested that there might have been a different outcome if the Devils had been in front when the incident occurred.
"I would like to congratulate the TCA, the way they handled it, they were straight on it," Mr Wade said.
"They had a spare post, we had no idea they had a spare one.
"Mind you, had we been in front, maybe they wouldn't have found it," he said.
The rules provide a 30-minute timeframe to restart a match and if three quarters have been completed, and a restart is not possible, the result stands as is.
