Player filmed tampering with umpire votes
THE Mid-Gippsland Football League is in shock after the revelation that Mirboo North reserves player Joe Bordonaro has been filmed tampering with the umpires' votes for the reserve competition's best-and-fairest award.
Bordonaro, a 38-year-old who works in the demolition industry in the Traralgon area, has won three best-and-fairest awards in the Mid-Gippsland reserves competition in recent years. He won last year's reserves best-and-fairest count with 32 votes; second was Trafalgar's Cohan Lee on 18.
The Mid-Gippsland league tribunal found Bordonaro guilty of conduct unbecoming at a hearing on Tuesday night and suspended him for five years. Bordonaro last night said through his lawyer, Garry Woodhams, that he had done nothing wrong and that he would be lodging an appeal against his suspension today.
Footage shown on Channel Nine news last night had been taken by the Mirboo North Football Club.
Rod Lucas, the Mid-Gippsland league secretary, last night said that he noticed after a recent day of footy at Mirboo North that the envelope bearing the umpire's votes for the reserves match had been torn and opened. When he questioned the reserves umpire about it, he said he had re-opened the envelope because he thought he had forgotten to write down the players' club beside their names.
When Lucas showed him the actual voting slip, he said those were not the votes he had cast. Lucas went back through the envelopes for all reserves matches played at Mirboo North this season. All envelopes showed signs of having been opened.
