Tigers skipper's slap for slash

Orietta Guerrera
April 22, 2008 - 1:08PM

Richmond captain Kane Johnson has been ordered to perform eight hours of community work as punishment for a drunken night that ended in the footballer urinating on the wall of the St Kilda Road police complex.

In the Melbourne Magistrates Court today, Magistrate Simon Garnett agreed to drop the charges - of behaving in an offensive manner and being drunk in a public place - provided Johnson comply with two conditions.

Johnston, 30, of Melbourne, must do eight hours of community work, and provide the court with a letter of apology he has written to Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon.

In a written statement, Johnson said the court's decision provided closure to "an incident in my life where I let myself and my club down badly".

He apologised to Victoria Police and his club.

"I look forward to rebuilding the trust of my team mates and our supporters," Johnson said.

"I will now focus my attention on helping the team build on what has been an encouraging start to the season."

Johnson had been celebrating his 30th birthday with family and friends. He was near his home when two police officers caught him urinating outside the police complex, which is near his home, in the early hours of March 23. He was arrested.

The incident came just one week after Carlton footballer Brendan Fevola urinated on the front window of a Prahran nightclub while drunk.

Johnson apologised for his behaviour at the time, and suspended himself for one match.

Mr Garnett said he accepted that Johnson, his family and team mates had suffered public embarrassment because of the incident, and that Johnson had shown remorse.

"Obviously it was a silly act to have performed especially in respect to similar events that occurred shortly prior to that date," he said.

Outside the court, Johnson's lawyer Paul Horvath said police had indicated they would like the footballer to help feed the homeless around Fitzroy with the Salvation Army.

This article was taken from The Age please view here

Mikhaylo Zubkov's lifetime coaching ban cut

Natalie Tkaczuk Sikora

December 24, 2007 12:00am

A UKRANIAN swimming coach, whose Melbourne brawl with his daughter became world news after it was videotaped, will be free to coach again for the Beijing Olympics.

Mikhaylo Zubkov will be back poolside with his daughter, Kateryna, from this Thursday after an international court ruled his lifetime coaching ban was too harsh.

"It's a huge relief," Zubkov, 39, told the Herald Sun yesterday. "I feel my name has been cleared."

Speaking from Ukraine yesterday, Kateryna, 19, said she was delighted with the news and excited her father could resume training and supporting her at competitions.

"I am very happy," said Kateryna who recently returned from the US, where she swims and studies. "I can now concentrate on the Olympics."

The pair clashed at the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships in Melbourne last March over Kateryna's choice of boyfriends.

Zubkov was accused of bringing swimming into disrepute after video of the coach and swimmer violently quarrelling at Rod Laver Arena was beamed across the world.

An exclusive series of Herald Sun articles revealed the story behind the heated exchange, their regrets about the incident and their hopes of being reunited.

The severe life ban imposed by a FINA disciplinary panel was appealed by a Melbourne legal team led by Paul Hayes and Paul Horvath, who travelled to Switzerland and represented Zubkov.

In a backflip at the weekend the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the ban and replaced it with an eight-month suspension, which expires on December 27.

The Swiss court accepted submissions from Zubkov's Melbourne legal team that he had not hit or otherwise assaulted his daughter.

It found that although Zubkov's conduct was "aggressive, violent and unbecoming an accredited team official", he did not bring the sport of swimming into disrepute.

The court ruled that his lifetime expulsion from coaching or any future FINA activities by the FINA disciplinary panel was too severe and disproportionate to their findings.

"We are of the view that the appropriate sanction is that of suspension rather than expulsion," said the hearing panel before president Dr Kaj Hober.

"Given the special nature and unusual circumstances of (Zubkov's) conduct, we find that a suspension for a period of eight months from 27 April to 27 December constitutes an appropriate and proportionate sanction."

Zubkov and his daughter were the subject of close media attention on their return to Ukraine, which placed great stress on their family and caused the coach's business to suffer.

Kateryna also had to find another coach.

Zubkov said although he did not think he deserved the penalty, he believed justice had been served. "I am very relieved that it's finished now," he said. "This has been a constant cloud hanging over my head."

Zubkov also profusely thanked his Melbourne legal team and the help and support of Australia's Ukrainian community members, in particular Mike Tkaczuk.

"They believed in me and in getting a fair hearing for me. Without their help I would not have been able to return to coaching," he said.

"Imposing tough penalties because the world media is watching . . . is not delivering justice or fairness," he said.

Click here to download the appeal decision pdf

This article was taken from The Herald Sun please view here

Dad to fight six-year ban

Natalie Tkaczuk Sikora

April 02, 2007 12:00am

DEVASTATED Ukrainian swim coach Mikhaylo Zubkov has vowed to fight a six-year ban on his coaching his daughter at FINA events.

A FINA disciplinary panel slapped Zubkov with the ban for the ugly poolside scuffle with his daughter, Kateryna Zubkova, last week.

He can continue to coach her privately, but cannot attend any major swimming meetings associated with FINA, including world championships and the Olympics, where she is sure to swim.

"I'm stunned. But FINA has not made their final decision yet," he said.

"I will fight to defend our reputation and clear my name."

He said the ban aimed to make an example of him to the sporting world.

"It's unfortunate that my problem became everyone else's problem," he said.

TV footage of the pair's stoush in the marshalling area at the Rod Laver Arena last Tuesday night was beamed around the world.

It landed Zubkov in court facing an intervention order application, which was dismissed by a magistrate.

FINA revoked Zubkov's accreditation hours after the incident, and a disciplinary panel has now decided to strip him of his FINA accreditation and recommended he not be allowed to re-apply for six years.

He was found guilty of breaching the code of conduct and of bringing the sport into disrepute.

Kateryna, 18, said yesterday she was disappointed by the ban.

"It will be very difficult for me to prepare for my races without my father," she said.

Zubkov, 38, said the panel's decision had far-reaching repercussions. He said the confrontation, over a boy Kateryna had been seeing against his wishes, was being misrepresented in Europe's media.

Kateryna said she was looking forward to returning home.

"I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this boy, but it is something I will discuss with him and my parents when we return," she said.

The head of the Ukrainian Swimming Federation, Andrij Vashko, was yesterday in talks with FINA executives who will have the final say on the ban.

But Zubkov's lawyer, Paul Horvath, said it was unlikely they would reverse the panel's recommendation.

This article was taken from The Herald Sun please view here

Titles could go if guilty

Anthony Black

April 01, 2007 12:00am

IAN Thorpe could be stripped of swimming titles if found guilty of cheating.

Top sports law specialist Paul Horvath said Thorpe might have to show that abnormally high levels of testosterone were natural.
It is claimed a sample from Thorpe showed abnormally high readings for testosterone and human growth hormone luteinizing.

"Thorpe could just have abnormally elevated levels of testosterone," Mr Horvath said.

"But he would have to take steps to establish that, rather than asserting that."

Mr Horvath said athletes were permitted to take prescribed drugs for medical conditions under the "therapeutic use exemption" regulations.

Mr Horvath said he would want to see hard evidence before he was convinced Thorpe had taken performance-enhancing substances.

"He strikes me as someone who has other physical attributes, namely his physique, height and big feet, that have allowed him to perform at an exceptional level," he said.

Mr Horvath said the Australian Sport Anti-Doping Authority would have prosecuted Thorpe and anyone else suspected of using banned substances.

This article was taken from The Herald Sun please view here

Dive coach charged

Sam Edmund

March 27, 2007 12:00am

THE World Swimming Championships have been rocked by accusations that a Russian team official sexually assaulted a female security guard at a city hotel.

Diving coach Vladimir Rulev has been charged with indecently and unlawfully assaulting the woman in the early hours of Saturday morning as she stood guard at the team's Grand Mercure Hotel.

Mr Rulev, 56, was released on bail last night, but his passport was confiscated and he was ordered not to leave the Grand Mercure

He will face Melbourne Magistrates' Court again today.

The Herald Sun believes the guard complained that the coach groped her and pulled her hair after returning from a night on the town.

Mr Rulev was flanked in court by Russia's head diving coach Alexei Evangulov, who translated orders from magistrate Paul Smith.

The Russian diving team was due to fly out of Australia this afternoon after the diving program finished yesterday.

Defence lawyer Paul Horvath said outside court that Mr Rulev denied the allegations against him.

"We've only late this afternoon received the police brief of evidence and all of the police information," he said.

"The allegation is unlawfully touching and some indecency involved in one of the assaults."

World Swimming Championships officials refused to comment last night, saying it was a matter for police.

The allegations continue a nightmare stay for the Russian team after a 14-year-old swimmer was arrested for shoplifting last week.

Breaststroke champion Vitalina Simonova was caught red-handed at Dandenong Plaza stealing $70 worth of cosmetics and clothes, but was let off with a caution.

The World Swimming Championships follow the tennis Australian Open and last year's Commonwealth Games as major events to be tarnished by assaults.

Police came under fire in January for keeping secret a sexual attack on a boy at the Australian Open.

Parents watching the tennis with their children were angry they were not warned until four days later that a child molester was on the loose.

The Commonwealth Games was rocked when an Indian masseur received a one-month suspended jail term for indecently assaulting a teenage cleaner at the athlete's village.

Nabi Dewan, 35, was found guilty of kissing and groping a 16-year-old schoolgirl.

This article was taken from The Herald Sun, please view here

Tiger in trouble again

Katie Lapthorne

June 07, 2006 12:00am

RICHMOND footballer Jay Schulz, who cost the club a $500,000 sponsorship deal for drink-driving, has been fined $50 for failing to display P-plates.

Schulz, 21, was pulled over in Bridge Rd, Richmond, in January afterspolice spotted his car in Lennox St.
Melbourne Magistrates' Court heard Schulz had displayed a plate on the front windscreen but it was obstructed by the registration sticker. A back plate had broken and fallen off.

Defence lawyer Paul Horvath entered a guilty plea on Schulz's behalf yesterday, saying the footballer had intended to challenge the penalty notice before seeking legal advice.

Schulz, who did not appear in court, was convicted and fined $50 and ordered to pay $37 costs.

The backman's driving record cost Richmond its major sponsorship deal with the Transport Accident Commission last year when he became the second player in four years to be caught drink-driving.

Schulz was nabbed speeding 40km/h over the limit with a blood alcohol level of 0.065. He lost his licence for six months and was separately fined $5000 by the Tigers.

This article was taken from The Herald Sun, please view here