TASMANIA and Queensland's wild half-time football brawl in the National Under 18 Championships will see five players face eight charges at the tribunal tomorrow.
Queensland's Albert Proud - whose sister took to the field to help break up the brawl - has been reported for striking Tasmanian trio Marcus Turner, Mitchell Thorp and James Armstrong.
Armstrong has been reported twice for striking Proud.
Tasmania's Cameron Beck was cited for striking Chris Smith and Queensland's Daniel Fletcher was booked for striking Zane Good.
The Mariners' Ben Fagan will face the tribunal on a wrestling charge.
Both sides went into the match undefeated, meaning the game became a virtual grand final. Tasmania won by 11 points.
With just two points separating the teams at half-times tempers boiled over.
Nearly every player and some spectators and trainers became involved.
AFL Tasmania general manager Scott Wade said:
"It was an incident I don't think anyone who is interested in the development of the game of Australian footy, particularly at an under-18 level, wants to see.
It could have been very nasty indeed. As it turned out no one was badly injured.''
He said while AFL Tasmania would never condone such an incident, it did show how passionate were the players from each state.
"It was a big week in their football life and there was a lot of state passion and pride and emotion in those games and it boiled over,'' he said.
"We don't like to see those incidents but in some respects it is great to see boys from both states who are fierce about the contest and so emotional about winning a national championship.''
Tasmanian coach Hamish Ogilvie said the incident did not overshadow the side's performance.
"It was two groups of young men who desperately wanted to win,'' Ogilvie said. "They were sticking up for their mates. That is footy, but it is a bit scary when people start running onto the ground.''
Four Tasmanian players, Sam Lonergan (Collingwood), Todd Grima (Hawthorn), Sam Iles (Sydney) and Heath Neville (St Kilda) will spend the week with AFL clubs.
By: BRETT STUBBS
Last Modified on 05/07/2005 15:11