Blake Moorhouse (orange) received a yellow card for this tackle on Kaeo-Inter player Vander Dos Santos.
Tikipunga Football Club's Blake Moorhouse has received a season ban from the club after his actions in the premier men's team's game against Kaeo-Inter on April 27.
Moorhouse, who was a key member of the premier team's defence, had his club membership revoked for the 2019 season after an allegeddangerous tackle on an opposition player in the Northland men's premier league third round fixture at Tikipunga Sports Park.
A video taken from the game and published on the Northern Advocate website, showed Moorhouse lunge at Kaeo-Inter's Vander Dos Santos, clattering into the player without getting the ball.
The video showed what appeared to be Moorhouse standing over the player, who was lying on the ground, and make aggressive gestures and comments towards him. Moorhouse received a yellow card directly after the incident.
Tikipunga's Blake Moorhouse won't be seen in the club's trademark orange and blue strip this year after his membership was revoked. Photo / File
Two days after the game, on April 29, Tikipunga premier men's coach Rob Geaney approached club chairman Matt Bryham to discuss Moorhouse's alleged actions.
The matter was then discussed at a club board meeting the next day where the decision was made to revoke Moorhouse's membership.
Blake Moorhouse could not be reached for comment. Moorhouse's father, Les, was contacted and said, on his son's behalf, Blake would not comment.
"It was hard because as much as what he did was wrong and he's actually a really nice kid off the field and does a lot for the club," premier team coach Rob Geaney said.
"But the decision had to be made for future of the club."
Geaney said the decision was not popular with some players in the club, but he felt Moorhouse's departure was in the best interests of the team.
"We decided what was in the best interests of what we are trying to do this year, it couldn't happen again.
"We are just trying to put that behind us now and the boys have moved on, there is still good stuff going on in football which is what we want to focus on."
It was a dangerous tackle in this game against Kaeo-Inter which resulted in Blake Moorhouse's (right) membership with Tikipunga revoked. Photo / File
Bryham said Moorhouse's actions during and after the tackle did not comply with the club's code of conduct which includes not disrespecting any opponent.
Bryham said he would not confirm whether Moorhouse would be allowed to return to the club after this season.
He said while Moorhouse's style of play did not reflect the club's style, he felt Tikipunga played football no more aggressively than other clubs.
"There are parts of [Moorhouse's] game that didn't fit with where we are trying to take the club, but football is a contact sport and Tikipunga AFC, we play it as that in the senior grades."
Bryham said he was in contact with the Northern Football Federation after the club delivered its ruling and said the governing body was supportive in the club's decision.
"Being one of the biggest clubs in Northland, we align ourselves very closely to the NFF in the rules of the game that they set out.
"[NFF] was very supportive of the action we took and supportive that we were staying out of the social media [activity] that ensued."
NFF chief executive John Limna said it was an unfortunate incident but it was not reflective of the sport as a whole.
"We take a very firm line with any incident that occurs, we support our clubs to manage these issues and as a federation we are prepared to remove teams and individuals as is required," he said.
