PORT ADELAIDE’S chairman David Koch says the Power will ban the member who threw a projectile towards Crows players on Saturday night for the entirety of the 2017 season.
And if a continuing investigation into the incident reveals that the incident was racially motivated, the club will take “incredibly severe” action – a life ban – in response.
Mr Koch, who chairs Port Adelaide’s reconciliation action committee, addressed the incident in a press conference on Sunday afternoon.
While the spectator has been identified as a member by the club, contact is yet to be established to determine the motivation behind the incident.
He says no further action will be taken until contact is made with the member, who is yet to return calls made by the club on Sunday.
“From a club point of view, it’s absolutely unacceptable to throw any object onto the field of play at any time, we have a code of conduct that expressly forbids that crowd behaviour,” Mr Koch said.
“We’re investigating the incident, we’ve identified the person responsible … we’re trying to investigate further into the motivation for doing that.
“At the moment we are trying to get to the bottom of it.
“It [discussion of the incident] is rife on social media at the moment, in the interests of fairness we need to talk to the person responsible first.”
“We revoke the membership not only for this year, but for next year [as well].
“Whether we take any further action will be decided on the outcome of the motivation and the investigation.”
Port Adelaide’s investigation commenced late on Saturday night after members and spectators drew attention to the incident on social media.
This statement was released shortly after midnight on Sunday morning.
Listen to David Koch's press conference in full:
