Doveton premiership captain Clint Wilson will appeal an AFL Victoria decision to refuse him accreditation to coach the club. Picture: Stewart ChambersBy Brad Kingsbury
AN appeals board will decide the coaching fate of Doveton Football Club coach Clint ‘Bull’ Wilson after he was banned from coaching the club by AFL Victoria.
The 27-year-old ruckman, who has captained the club for the past six seasons, underwent a check as part of AFL Victoria level one coaching requirements and his application was refused after it was revealed that he had a police record that included convictions for assault.
AFL Victoria coaching development manager Steve Teakel said that Wilson was not the first person to be refused accreditation after a police check, but would not elaborate on the reasons for the decision.
“He was not accredited as a level one coach after a police check was done,” he said.
“They can appeal the process and then it can be made public but I can’t give any reasons or specifics because of any pending appeal.”
Doveton president Mark Woolgar said that an appeal against the decision would be officially lodged this week and Wilson would be represented by leading AFL advocate Iain Findlay.
“Clint was open and honest when he went through the process, but AFL Victoria decided that he wasn’t the right type of person to be coaching a football team,” he said.
“We’ll lodge an appeal and are hoping that this will be over soon and he will be accredited to coach our club in the next week.”
Woolgar admitted that Wilson was no angel but he had undertaken anger management and the opportunity to coach was seen as a positive move by both parties with the past misdemeanours of his youth well behind him.
Wilson said he had made some mistakes in the past but had not been in any trouble since 2005 and had worked hard to successfully address his issues and move forward.
Doveton must lodge a $5,000 bond with the appeal documentation and Woolgar said the appeal would be pursued vigorously and include references from MPNFL officials.
