Perth football club booted over ‘distasteful’ Silly Sunday costume

A local football club in Perth’s north has had its lease cancelled after a player allegedly dressed as the late physicist Stephen Hawking for the club’s end of year celebrations.

The costume included Hawking’s wheelchair and electronic communication system, and displayed a fake pornography site on the system’s screen.

The City of Stirling ended the Osborne Park Football Club’s lease at its Tuart Hill clubhouse after finding out about the costume – created for its “Silly Sunday” event in August – but said it was a matter for the Perth Football League whether the club could continue playing.

On Tuesday evening, the football club posted a statement to its Facebook page to “address a very serious matter that has brought the future of our club into question”.

“A member of our playing group wore a costume that was distasteful and unacceptable. As a club, we are really embarrassed that we allowed this to happen and that we didn’t intervene on the day,” the statement from club president Jeremy LaBianca read.

“Let me be absolutely clear — this behaviour does not reflect the values or culture we stand for at Osborne Park, and we unreservedly apologise for the offence caused.

“Since becoming aware of the incident, the Club has taken immediate and comprehensive steps to cooperate fully with both the Perth Football League and the City of Stirling.

“Unfortunately, despite our efforts, the City of Stirling have refused to engage with us and have forced us to vacate our lease without explanation.”

LaBianca said the club had appointed a new leadership team since the incident, banned the player who dressed up from the club, and engaged “openly and transparently” with stakeholders.

But Stirling Mayor Mark Irwin, who said the incident had been reported to police, told Radio 6PR that the event was “completely underplayed” by the club’s statement.

“[The club] have a pattern of poor form and poor behaviour. This is a group of individuals who all knew this happened, all let it happen, and no one did anything to stop it,” he said.

“The actual club committee … offered no solutions, did not react, in fact, were not contactable.

“This is a new president who’s taken over, who something like six weeks after the fact, is offering to maybe do something.

“It’s been completely underplayed by the club, and the seriousness is something that they probably can’t come back from.”

Irwin said City of Stirling employees found the costume, which had been left at the clubhouse overnight, and it was his responsibility to provide a safe work environment.

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“There were several employees involved in this … who were extremely distressed,” Irwin said.

“This is the first time this has ever happened. We are not a council that overreacts. I believe in proportionate responses.

“This is something that the general public have zero tolerance for, and it should never be accepted.”

LaBianca also jumped on Radio 6PR to respond to Irwin’s comments, and said the club was “extremely apologetic to the City of Stirling for having to stumble across what is an extremely embarrassing situation for us to be caught up in”.

“I’ve asked both the City and the Perth Football League to help guide me, as a new president who’s never been president of any sporting organisation in my life, on how to deal with the situation going forward,” LaBianca said.

He said he had been told that the matter had been closed by police, and a decision on whether Osborne Park Football Club would be allowed to continue to play would be made by the Perth Football League in early November.

WA Police confirmed they had received a report “that involved alleged inappropriate images displayed by an individual during an event at a northern suburbs sporting club in August this year.”

“Local police, supported by officers from the Sex Crime Division worked with the club to determine if any criminal offences occurred,” a spokesperson said.

“No criminality was detected.”

Perth Football Club League chief executive Andrew Dawe said they had started an internal investigation and issued the club with a notice to provide written evidence of the events.

“PFL … treats all incidents that may affect the reputation of the sport with the highest level of seriousness,” he said.

“The PFL expects all players, officials and participants to uphold high standards of behaviour on and off the field that are appropriate to expectations of the important role that football plays within our community.”

WA Premier Roger Cook said the allegations were “particularly disturbing”.

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