A PATRON has been banned from attending AFL and AFLW games for more than a year after making contact with Richmond player Marlion Pickett at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.
It comes as vision on AFL.com.au's Access All Areas showed patrons throwing eggs onto the playing surface from the top tier during the same game.
The Pickett incident occurred during the third quarter of Richmond's loss to the Western Bulldogs, when the patron stood up in his seat, leant over the fence and patted Pickett on the shoulder three times while he had his back turned.
The dual Richmond premiership player turned around and knocked a drink out of the supporter's hand in response.
The patron, who is not an AFL or club member and was sitting in the general admission section of the ground, has been banned from attending matches until October next year.
"We have the best fans in the world and more than 6.4 million people have attended the footy this year and we want everyone who comes to the footy to cheer for their team and enjoy the experience of being there, but when you overstep the boundaries, which is what happened on Friday night, then you will lose the privilege of being able to attend the footy," said Kylie Rogers, the AFL's executive general manager customer and commercial.
"Our clear message is this – we love the interactions between players and fans especially in the precious moments pre and post-game – however what we saw on Friday night during the match is not acceptable and never will be."
As soon as the siren sounded at three-quarter time, Pickett had made a beeline towards the same section of the crowd where the incident happened and briefly interacted with a security guard.
The 31-year-old then had a long conversation with Richmond football boss Tim Livingstone before the final quarter began, which Pickett started sitting on the bench.
Interim Richmond coach Andrew McQualter said it was "disappointing" the incident happened.
"I don't know the full details, but it shouldn't happen," he said.
"We love fans in our game, and they're so critical to our game, but our players should never, ever be touched when they're on the football field.
"I think all Marlion was doing was alerting Tim (Livingstone) to the fact that something happened, and just getting security to deal with it and the AFL will deal with it now."
AFL.com.au senior reporter Damian Barrett reported on Monday that several teenagers were shown to be throwing eggs onto the field of play in the same game.
Vision on Access All Areas shows at least one moment where an egg is thrown from the top tier onto the field, narrowly missing Bulldog Jason Johannisen.
The AFL is expected to investigate.
