‘Outrageous’: Man charged, teams stood down after rugby league brawl

A 21-year-old man has been charged and two rugby league teams barred from playing after a violent brawl in a car park following a match in Sydney’s south-west.

Shocking footage shows players from the Berala Bears and Lalor Park Kookas fighting in the carpark of the Terry Lamb Complex in Chester Hill about 3pm on Sunday.

The brawl had broken up by the time police arrived. Police are now investigating the incident after receiving the video.

Following inquiries, police arrested a 21-year-old man in Merrylands and took him to Merrylands Police Station, where he was charged with affray and behaving in an offensive manner in a public place.

Detective Superintendent Adam Johnson said the man was assisting police, and police expect to make more arrests.

“There’s been some sort of altercation after the game and some outrageous, I would describe, behaviour occurred in the carpark,” he said.

“I would imagine there’ll be more people assisting us with our inquiries in custody soon. We’ve reached out to both of the junior clubs this morning, my expectation is that they will give us their full cooperation.”

Johnson confirmed he had seen the footage circulating on social media and urged anyone to contact police if they had more video of the brawl.

“I was watching it last night and it’s outrageous, it’s totally unacceptable. Clearly people haven’t got their emotions in check and got issues with their anger ... I think it’s a blight on the game,” he said.

“We’re relying on the footage that’s in the media at the moment, if there’s any other angles and so on, I’d really like to see that as well.”

The Parramatta Eels and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, who run the junior league competitions the two clubs play in, have stood down both teams and issued a joint statement condemning the violence.

“We ask that all junior league registered participants continue to act with respect and in the appropriate manner of sportsmanship towards their counterparts in competition,” the statement read. “There is no place for violence in our game.”

The NSW Rugby League confirmed they were working with police, and said the Berala Bears had withdrawn their Men’s Open Silver team from the competition and the Lalor Park Kookaburras team was also stood down pending the investigation.

“The NSWRL has a zero-tolerance approach towards violent and/or abusive conduct towards players, officials and spectators and will make no further comment until the investigation is complete,” a spokesman said.

The game ended with Lalor Park beating Berala Bears 28-24, and Johnson said police were looking for men in their 20s to 30s as it was an open age category match.

“If there are any members of the community out there that are aware of the identity of any of those other people involved please call Crime Stoppers,” Johnson said.

Bankstown Police are also liaising with NSW Rugby League. Anyone with more information can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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