All Richmond Had To Do With Noah Balta Is Wait One Week | THE VOLCANZO

A few weeks ago I said there is almost nothing that a player can do on the footy field, that won't be defended by footy fans for the sole reason of they play for my team. Well I was wrong, I admit it and I apologise. Turns out there is almost nothing a player can do off the field, as well.

Noah Balta was important in Richmond's win but his participation was controversial

Richmond where put in a tough place with the Noah Balta situation, but it was rather extraordinary how the way the club has handled it has been so close and yet so far away. Three words: One more week. It's all they needed. Not months, or several weeks. All they had to was wait one week. Balta was important and arguably in the Brownlow Medal votes for his performance against the Suns. Shutting down Ben King was a big reason why the Tigers won the game. But it is shadowed by the cloud that covers the win.

Out: Balta (curfew) is a funny thing to read, but it begs the question, what in the world was he doing in, in the first place? It is still extraordinary that Richmond decided to plant their flag in the ground, over this. Balta was guilty of assault, and the evidence is he admitted it, he pled guilty. Plus, of course, there is the footage that we have all witnessed. His sentencing was half a week away, it boggles the mind they thought this was fine.

Balta arrives at Albury Court ahead of sentencing

The judge in the case wasn't having any of it, the AFL fixture made no difference in the curfew being in place. Despite the fact the lay man could easily have received jailtime for what he did, the punishment was definitely more apt than what happened in the footy world. The four week penalty he received was before the footage came out. So what does the AFL do? Nothing. All they really did was pass it on to Richmond. They did nothing similarly. It was just one cowardly organisation passed it on to another cowardly organisation, neither of which wished to exercise any sort of moral compass. If Balta did what he did on a footy field, his footy punishment would be more severe.

While I would rather not call footy fans the dumbest in sport, but they keep dragging me back in. Though it might be unfair to put us all in the same category as Richmond supporters. There is no way that a Geelong player would receive the same supportive attitude that Tigers fans gave to Balta. They almost certainly would be shouting from the rooftops, no matter how terrible it is.

Balta made his football return in the VFL

It was amusing Tigers fans wanted to offer Balta accommodation near the MCG so as he could still play night games, albeit subbed out in the second half. How much judgement do you have to lack to do such thing. Would they allow a player from any other club to gate crashing for doing the same thing? That was a rhetorical question.

The footy community needs to do better at reacting fairly to instances off the field. We don't come down hard enough on bad behavior, but we probably don't treat the offender with the love and mercy, all humans deserve.

The saga is symbolic of the footy world. Putting one match over everything else including the health and dignity of victims. Furthermore, the differing attitudes based purely on the team the player in the controversy plays for. All the footy world needs to do in these instances, is to take a breath and wait a little. Richmond just needed one week to make a moral stand, but I guess in their eyes, footy is more important than morals.