G
Guest
Guest
Judiciary bans Bears biter for 10 matches
Glenn Jackson
September 2, 2010
NORTH SYDNEY winger Mitchell Stevens foreshadowed an appeal last night after being found guilty of biting the ear of Balmain-Ryde player Jason Schirnack – which led to a 10-match suspension.
Stevens declared his innocence after a marathon hearing despite the guilty finding, saying afterwards: "I still maintain my innocence, and the truth doesn't always come out. That's all I'll say."
Bears representative Darren Allard suggested Stevens and his legal team was considering an appeal.
What has been ruled to have been a split-second decision by Stevens was dissected over for about five hours at the NSWRL's Phillip Street headquarters, which ultimately came down to a he said/he said scenario.
Stevens said the injury was caused by a punch to the ear, and that he had performed a wrestle manoeuvre while the pair were on the ground. Schirnack had claimed he had felt a "pinch" sensation while they were on the ground. And so the three-man panel of Sean Garlick, Graeme Wynn and Mark Coyne were left to decide between a pinch and a punch on the first day of the month.
The testimony was long and arduous, and resembled at times a circus. The television froze at an inopportune moment. The prosecution quarrelled with the defence. At all times Stevens was relatively motionless, but repeatedly declared that the allegations were "completely untrue".
During testimony Scott Byrne, the Balmain-Ryde doctor, said a "punch would not have caused that injury".
"The player stated that he'd been bitten and the wound was consistent with a bite," Byrne said. "It was my opinion it was a bite.
"There was skin missing . . . it just can't happen with blunt trauma. A piece of his ear has actually been taken out. It requires something to be cut through the skin . . . a piece of skin, a piece of ear, can't be punched off. It just doesn't happen. A chunk of his ear, to put it bluntly, has actually come off. I challenge anyone to show how a piece of skin can be punched off."
Cue former kick-boxing world champion, Grant Barker, who testified that, indeed, it can happen. And in 1994, in a bout involving Eugene Valerio in Japan, it actually did. "A hundred per cent it is [possible to punch a portion of ear off], depending on the angle and where the blow lands," Barker, a North Sydney trainer, said, during one of the more colourful exchanges of the hearing.
Stevens said he had worn a mouthguard during the exchange, during the second half of the clash between the two sides at North Sydney Oval last Sunday week. He even gave a demonstration of his grapple hold on Schirnack, using one of his legal team, which he argued meant it was impossible for him to bite his opponent's left ear. Showing the panel members a swollen right knuckle, he said he had been "shocked that I'd been accused of that, because I thought there was no possible way . . . I was angry after the fact."
Schirnack said the feeling of having his ear bitten was similar to when his ear was pierced, likening it to an injection. "He was on top, I was on the bottom," Schirnack said. "I felt a bit of a pinch on my ear. We all got up and I noticed I was bleeding from my ear."
He said he called Stevens a "dog" when it dawned on him what had occurred. After four hours of evidence, the panel deliberated for half an hour before finding Stevens guilty, even though the Bears winger's counsel, Les Nicholls, showed stills that he said showed a discolouration of Schirnack's ear immediately after the punch.
Nicholls maintained that Schirnack did not realise he had been bitten until his club's medical staff made him aware of the nature of the injury.
"When you got up, you didn't realise that you'd been bitten," he asked the Balmain-Ryde player. "No," Schirnack replied. "[But] I knew something like that had happened."
Glenn Jackson
September 2, 2010
NORTH SYDNEY winger Mitchell Stevens foreshadowed an appeal last night after being found guilty of biting the ear of Balmain-Ryde player Jason Schirnack – which led to a 10-match suspension.
Stevens declared his innocence after a marathon hearing despite the guilty finding, saying afterwards: "I still maintain my innocence, and the truth doesn't always come out. That's all I'll say."
Bears representative Darren Allard suggested Stevens and his legal team was considering an appeal.
What has been ruled to have been a split-second decision by Stevens was dissected over for about five hours at the NSWRL's Phillip Street headquarters, which ultimately came down to a he said/he said scenario.
Stevens said the injury was caused by a punch to the ear, and that he had performed a wrestle manoeuvre while the pair were on the ground. Schirnack had claimed he had felt a "pinch" sensation while they were on the ground. And so the three-man panel of Sean Garlick, Graeme Wynn and Mark Coyne were left to decide between a pinch and a punch on the first day of the month.
The testimony was long and arduous, and resembled at times a circus. The television froze at an inopportune moment. The prosecution quarrelled with the defence. At all times Stevens was relatively motionless, but repeatedly declared that the allegations were "completely untrue".
During testimony Scott Byrne, the Balmain-Ryde doctor, said a "punch would not have caused that injury".
"The player stated that he'd been bitten and the wound was consistent with a bite," Byrne said. "It was my opinion it was a bite.
"There was skin missing . . . it just can't happen with blunt trauma. A piece of his ear has actually been taken out. It requires something to be cut through the skin . . . a piece of skin, a piece of ear, can't be punched off. It just doesn't happen. A chunk of his ear, to put it bluntly, has actually come off. I challenge anyone to show how a piece of skin can be punched off."
Cue former kick-boxing world champion, Grant Barker, who testified that, indeed, it can happen. And in 1994, in a bout involving Eugene Valerio in Japan, it actually did. "A hundred per cent it is [possible to punch a portion of ear off], depending on the angle and where the blow lands," Barker, a North Sydney trainer, said, during one of the more colourful exchanges of the hearing.
Stevens said he had worn a mouthguard during the exchange, during the second half of the clash between the two sides at North Sydney Oval last Sunday week. He even gave a demonstration of his grapple hold on Schirnack, using one of his legal team, which he argued meant it was impossible for him to bite his opponent's left ear. Showing the panel members a swollen right knuckle, he said he had been "shocked that I'd been accused of that, because I thought there was no possible way . . . I was angry after the fact."
Schirnack said the feeling of having his ear bitten was similar to when his ear was pierced, likening it to an injection. "He was on top, I was on the bottom," Schirnack said. "I felt a bit of a pinch on my ear. We all got up and I noticed I was bleeding from my ear."
He said he called Stevens a "dog" when it dawned on him what had occurred. After four hours of evidence, the panel deliberated for half an hour before finding Stevens guilty, even though the Bears winger's counsel, Les Nicholls, showed stills that he said showed a discolouration of Schirnack's ear immediately after the punch.
Nicholls maintained that Schirnack did not realise he had been bitten until his club's medical staff made him aware of the nature of the injury.
"When you got up, you didn't realise that you'd been bitten," he asked the Balmain-Ryde player. "No," Schirnack replied. "[But] I knew something like that had happened."
