Carl Ditterich: AFL makes call on removing star from Hall of Fame after he was charged with multiple alleged child sex offences
- AFL president breaks silence over lawsuit
- Carl Ditterich charged with multiple sex crimes involving children
- Former St Kilda star will appear in court again on June 28
AFL president Richard Goyder says the league will wait for Carl Ditterich’s lawsuit to unfold before deciding whether to remove him from the Hall of Fame.
Rules introduced last year allow the AFL to oust former St Kilda champions regardless of the court outcome, but Goyder said the league would not immediately respond.
Ditterich, 78, faces three charges of indecent assault and one charge of gross indecency in the presence of a child under 16.
It is alleged Ditterich attacked the child in Heatherton in Melbourne’s south-east in 1985.
The St Kilda team member of the century was due to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday, but his lawyer Tony Hargreaves provided a letter from Bendigo Health excusing him on medical grounds.
He is due back in court on June 28 for a citation.
AFL president Richard Goyder says the league will wait for Carl Ditterich’s (pictured) lawsuit to unfold before deciding whether to remove him from the Hall of Fame
The former St Kilda star is next to appear in the front court on June 28
Goyder said on Monday the AFL would let the legal process play out before making a decision on Ditterich’s place in the Hall of Fame.
‘We only heard about it on Friday. There is a legal process that will take place,” he said on Monday.
‘It is clear that last year we made changes at committee level in how we deal with such circumstances and when there is a finding. So we will wait for this lawsuit to unfold and then we will determine whether any action will be taken.”
The AFL Commission amended its Hall of Fame Charter in June last year to allow it to revoke or suspend the membership of past players accused or found guilty of a criminal offence.
The move came after Hall of Fame legend Barry Cable was found guilty of repeatedly sexually abusing a young girl during his playing career.
The former football star faces three charges of indecent assault and one charge of gross indecency in the presence of a child under 16
It means that the association can revoke Ditterich’s membership even if he is found not guilty by the court.
The Hall of Fame inductees could also be removed under the new rules if they engaged in conduct that the committee decided was “discreditable to the AFL, the Hall of Fame inductee, any AFL club or Australian football could bring’.
When the AFL removed Cable from the Hall of Fame, Goyder said the AFL had no choice but to respond to the “horrific” findings of the civil suit against him.
“(The) civil case and Judge Herron’s findings make it very clear that, under the rules that we’ve established … in terms of the Hall of Fame, this is the right thing to do,” Goyder said last year.
“Our thoughts go out to the woman involved and others who were brave enough to come forward in the civil action and raise the issues that have arisen in their lives.”