By Ken Lewis
WHANGAREI - A Whangarei soccer player has been sentenced to three months' imprisonment for headbutting a referee in what could be a New Zealand sporting first.
Mark Taylor was sentenced yesterday in the Whangarei District Court by Judge Thomas Everitt after pleading guilty to a charge of injuring with
intent.
The 22-year-old audio-engineering student admitted headbutting novice referee Craig Crawford during a Whangarei club match on August 28.
Judge Everitt said Taylor used his head as a weapon by delivering a "Liverpool kiss" to Mr Crawford, who suffered a 3cm gash on his nose.
The incident struck at the heart of community sports and at referees, who were unpaid volunteers.
However, the judge said there were several mitigating factors in Taylor's favour.
These included his early guilty plea, his age, a lifetime ban already imposed on him by the Northland Football Association and the apology he made to Mr Crawford shortly after the incident.
Despite this, Judge Everitt said, he was still required to impose a prison term under section 5 of the Criminal Justice Act.
Wellington sports lawyer David Howman said he could not recall a previous prison sentence handed down in New Zealand for on-field violence.
He said most convictions for sport violence had attracted at most sentences of periodic detention.
"It's certainly the first in recent times, although there were two rugby players imprisoned in the United Kingdom just recently."
The Hillary Commission was also unable to recall a similar sentence being handed down in New Zealand.
Project officer Simon Wickham said the commission did not keep records of sport-related convictions, but could not recall a similar case.
He applauded yesterday's sentence, saying it gave a strong message that physical attacks, especially on referees, were unacceptable.
He said that while such attacks were rare, the sentence reflected growing public disapproval of on-field violence.
Mr Wickham said Hillary Commission surveys showed that just 4 per cent of New Zealanders felt it was acceptable to hit someone during sports matches, compared with 16 per cent six years ago.
Mr Crawford said he had not been put off by Taylor's attack on him and was back on the field within two weeks.
Defence lawyer Arthur Fairly said Taylor had been philosophical about the sentence.
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