Australian Football Player Strangles Opponent During Game (Video)

An Australian rules football game in Australia took an unexpected turn last week as one of the players attempted to strangle his opponent right in the middle of the field and in full view of players, coaches, league officials, spectators and cameras.

Video of the incident (above) shows player Brian Lake attacking opponent Drew Petrie during the game last week.

The Herald Sun in Melbourne, Australia, reports that Lake is now facing a tribunal from the Australian Football League that will determine what his punishment will be for attempting to strangle one of his opponents on the field, what Sports Illustrated‘s Extra Mustard blog called a “near murder” on the field.

For his part, the Herald Sun quotes Petrie discussing the incident and the injuries he landed on Lake while he was being strangled.

“‘In the beginning, I am certainly getting involved in the scuffle, no denying that,’ Petrie told the Sunday Footy Show.

“‘I think I was just going to grab something because he had me, so I wanted to grab him in some part of his body and I grabbed his face.

“‘I didn’t mean to gouge or scratch him, I’m sure come (today) there will be something go on and we might hear more about it, but I’m reluctant to go into too much detail.

“‘If it was my doing putting the scratch on his face, I didn’t mean to scratch him. I’m not a scratcher or a gouger, or anything like that.

“‘But I was just engaged in a bit of a wrestle and just grabbed something because he had hold of me as well.”

While video of the incident clearly shows Petrie struggling with Lake’s hands strangling him, Sports Grid reports that Petrie has actually been sanctioned for causing injury to Lake’s face. In America, that would be called self-defense. Sports Grid said apparently that is not the case down under.

“Really? Clawing for breath is considered ‘unnecessary contact to the face’?”

Lake’s hearing, the sports blog noted, is scheduled for Tuesday before the AFL tribunal.

This is just the latest example of violence in sports with perhaps one of the most glaring examples in recent memory occurring in June during the World Cup, when Luis Suarez took to biting in a match against Italy as The Inquisitr reported. He was handed a hefty ban as a result of his on-field antics.

[Photo via Screenshot/YouTube]