From Adelaide Now,
Norwood footballer sacked via the web
news Local News 19 May 09 @ 08:55am by Jai Bednall
Former Norwood Football Club midfielder Joel Coombes whose sacking was posted on the club's website.
NORWOOD Football Club informed its members that midfielder Joel Coombes had been sacked last week before telling the player himself.
Coombes, 20, found out his contract had been terminated after receiving a phone call from his father, who had been alerted to a posting on the club’s website on Wednesday afternoon (May 13).
“I’d just got home from work and dad rang up saying, ‘What’ve you done? It says on the Norwood website that your contract has been terminated’,” Coombes said.
“I said, ‘That’s news to me’.”
He went to the club and confronted football manager Mark Ross, who eventually told him of the decision.
Coombes said he was “disappointed about the way it happened”.
“It wrecks your passion for footy in a way.”
He is moving back to Melbourne this week where he will play the remainder of the season for his junior club East Burwood.
Ross, who issued a full apology for the mistake on the website the next day, said he was “gutted” by the way Coombes had found out about his dismissal.
“That was a disgrace on my part, it certainly wasn’t a deliberate thing,” he said.
“I post messages on our club website to keep our members informed of what’s going on.
“The way it usually works is I send the message to a second party, who then puts it up. But this time it went straight up on to the website.”
Ross told the Eastern Courier that Coombes was sacked by the club for behavioural issues.
“Joel was counselled on two occasions in the last 12 months by the coaching group, and also on two other occasions by the leadership group, and told he needed to straighten himself up.
“It was nothing to do with his football ability which was unquestionable.”
The tipping point, Ross said, was the lack of notice Coombes had given the club before going to Queensland on a family holiday during last weekend’s bye.
“We don’t have problems with interstate players going home or on holidays during the byes but we ask them to give us two weeks notice. It’s in the player’s manual that they sign-off on at the start of the season.
“He left a message on my phone the day before he left.”
Coombes, who was recruited from Box Hill at the beginning of the 2008 season and has played four League games, said he felt harshly treated by the club.
“It was never about my behaviour,” he said.
“There’s other people that stuff-up and they’re fine. For some reason there’s a clash between me and him (Ross).”
