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Already booted from its Tuart Hill clubhouse, the Osborne Park Football Club has now been suspended from the Perth Football League as the fallout from a controversial “Silly Sunday” costume continues.
The City of Stirling made the rare move to evict the club from its headquarters last month after a player dressed as the late physicist Stephen Hawking for its end-of-season celebrations.
An Osborne Park Football Club player dressed as Stephen Hawking.
The player’s outfit included a wheelchair and mocked-up electronic communication system, including a fake pornography site which insinuated Hawking was viewing child exploitation material.
Stirling Mayor Mark Irwin said the club had “a pattern of poor form and poor behaviour”, and said city employees who discovered the outfit while cleaning the clubrooms were “extremely distressed”.
A statement released on Tuesday afternoon, following the Perth Football League’s board meeting the day prior, said the club would be suspended for two years for the “severe breach” of the league’s integrity standards.
PFL chief executive Andrew Dawe said the incident exposed deep governance and leadership failures at Osborne Park Football Club.
“A two-year suspension reflects the severity of the breach, and gives the club time to rebuild governance capability, re-engage with the City of Stirling to see if they can find a home for the club and time to demonstrate considerable reform before the possibility of returning to the competition,” he said.
Osborne Park Football Club was invited to provide a submission to the board, the statement read, but failed to do so.
When the news emerged in early October, club president Jeremy LaBianca released a statement saying the club was “really embarrassed that we allowed this to happen and that we didn’t intervene on the day”.
“Let me be absolutely clear — this behaviour does not reflect the values or culture we stand for at Osborne Park, and we unreservedly apologise for the offence caused,” he said at the time.
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“Since becoming aware of the incident, the Club has taken immediate and comprehensive steps to cooperate fully with both the Perth Football League and the City of Stirling.
“Unfortunately, despite our efforts, the City of Stirling have refused to engage with us and have forced us to vacate our lease without explanation.”
Those comments drew a rebuke from Irwin, who told Radio 6PR that the club’s committee “offered no solutions, did not react, in fact, were not contactable”.
“It’s been completely underplayed by the club, and the seriousness is something that they probably can’t come back from,” he said at the time.
The suspension is due to take effect in 14 days, and the club has the right to appeal the PFL board’s decision.
Osborne Park Football Club has been approached for further comment.
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