1906 : Twenty Shillings Plus Costs
	Although there have been few incidents of great drama involving Preston players and the various tribunals over the years, 1906 saw a unique and unusual case of a senior umpire subsequently charged and convicted of striking a spectator during a match at Preston Park.  Spectators should always remain wary of the vicious men in white ...

Volume One of "Where We Come From", a history of the Preston Football Club, mentions a round 11 game in 1906 which saw the first near-riot at Cramer Street, when Preston, with just one win for the season, led Williamstown by 12 points at three quarter time only to lose by ten points after the visitors kicked four goals, all off free kicks, to Preston's nil in the last quarter.

The incensed Preston crowd mobbed the central umpire, J. Grogan, and The Preston Leader reported that police with batons drawn had to escort him, both into the changing rooms, and again to the Station until a train arrived.

The Leader declared Grogan's performance "most unfair" and "inciting a demonstration of disapproval not seen at the ground before".    And unless we accuse the local newspaper of bias, The Williamstown Advertiser also noted "Preston have won but one match, but there is not the slightest doubt that had the umpire not been on our boys side, 'Town would have been well beaten.".

A scan of The Leader over the preceding summer months leads to an interesting question of the V.F.A. administration of the time.    Just why Grogan was allowed to umpire the game in 1906?

The previous year, Grogan was found guilty in the Preston Court of assaulting a spectator while umpiring another game between Preston and Williamstown in 1905.

A local youth, William George Bott issued proceedings against John Grogan, cited as "from Geelong and an umpire for the Victorian Football Association", for assault. Grogan later served a cross-summons on Bott and it was agreed to hold both cases together.

Bott told the Preston Court that he was standing in front of the pavilion and that "in a very exciting game a lot of shouting was going on".    About ten minutes before full time, he went to the fence just as the ball went over, and knocked the ball onto the field.

Grogan threw the ball back into play (there were no boundary umpires at the time), and it was immediately driven out of bounds again.    At this point, Bott claimed Grogan walked to the fence, and instead of picking the ball up, struck out and hit Bott on the nose, felling him and that he did not remember anything until being taken home.

Bott claimed he had not said anything to the umpire, and James Olver, a local councillor, said the ball was lying inside the fence and that Bott had his hands in his pockets when the umpire struck him, corroborated this statement.

Four other witnesses gave evidence that Grogan had struck Bott without provocation before picking up the ball. One, however, suggested a person standing behind Bott had reached forward to grab the umpire, but had then pulled his arm down.

The bench established that Grogan's case against Bott had only been issued after Grogan received the summons.   

Grogan on taking the stand stated that he was an umpire engaged under the Victorian Football Association; resided at Geelong, and had been umpiring for ten years. He went on to claim that two minutes before the close of the game, the ball went out of bounds. While standing at the fence awaiting it's return, when Bott "without any provocation" struck him on the nose, and was coming at him again, when he put up his arm to protect himself, and it struck Bott on the face.  He heard Bott say "You --------- mongrel, come here and we'll do for you".

Mr Hall - "You don't know who struck you"?   Answer : "Don"t I " - "Who was it?"  "That man sitting there", pointing to Bott.

Three of them, however, confirmed that the ball was inside the fence and not outside as Grogan had claimed.    The chairman of the bench, Mr. James Lyon, said that while the evidence was conflicting, they found that it was sufficient to convict Grogan.    He went on the express sympathy with the plight of umpires, but said "it would never do to allow cases of this kind to go unchecked, especially on the part of an umpire".

Grogan was fined 20 shillings and ordered to pay £3/6/- costs, in default, seven days imprisonment. The summons against Bott was dismissed without costs.