Sporting violence must be halted: Brumby

Victorian Premier John Brumby has called an urgent meeting of major sporting codes,
police and venue operators to discuss the issue of violence at sporting events.
The move comes after Brad Jones, father of Melbourne midfielder Nathan Jones, was
attacked at the MCG after he left an AFL game his son played in on Saturday.
The violent attack, for which three men have been charged, was witnessed by Mr
Jones' 14-year-old son and left him with facial injuries.
"I don't care where it is or what code it is, it's not acceptable when you take your
family to the footy and you get bashed on your way out," Mr Brumby told reporters on
Tuesday.
"What occurred on the weekend was completely unacceptable.
"There have been a number of issues where there has been crowd violence. This is
something we need to nip it in the bud.
"The incident on the weekend had kids standing around and the fists and the boots
were going in, it's just completely unacceptable."
But the state opposition has slammed the premier's handling of the issue, for making
the decision to hold the summit late on Monday night.
"That managed to appear on the front page of a newspaper, that's pretty good going,"
Liberal leader Ted Baillieu told reporters.
"But no one else had been told, no media had been told, I spoke to sporting groups
this morning, they hadn't been told.
"I suspect ... the premier is more interested in the PR than the substance.
"But these are serious issues and they need to be dealt with."
Mr Brumby brushed off that criticism when questioned by reporters, but admitted a
media release was not issued on the plans, which was common procedure.