Sammy D Foundation comments following assault conviction for AFL player

Published Apr 22, 2025, 10:51 PM

Neil from Sammy D Foundation on FIVEAA Breakfast with David & Will after Noah Balta was sentenced over an assault outside a club.

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Hey minutes to eight. We started the program this morning talking about the punishment levied on Noah Bolter by a new South Wales magistrate that will see him unavailable for football games. But perhaps more seriously, he will be facing a general three month curfew between ten pm and six am because of an attack on twenty seven year old Thomas Washbrook at Mulwarra the Water ski club. Happened on December thirty. He's not allowed to drink alcohol if he commits further offenses. The suspension of any jail time obviously lapses. He can't visit the ski club anymore. Noel Bolter has paid forty five thousand dollars in compensation to the victim. Now the football world's focused in on this whole business of well, he's going to miss all the night games in Melbourne because of the curfew. What does it mean for Indo State and so forth. The most interesting thing we heard, I think over the first half hour the show was the number of techs just said this whole thing, The way this has been handled by All and Sundry is pathetic. The vision is really confronting. We will put it up on the Facebook and YouTube live stream of those that haven't seen it like this is this is your textbook attacking someone from behind what we used to call the king hit that we now thankfully call the coward punch like you made a good point too when we're chatting about this in the air break mate about Connor Nash, there's every chance at the tribunal tonight he might get the same length of time off the field for an incident that he committed a whirl field. Reny made the point that conn Nash is going to get three or four weeks tonight. So say he gets four, that's the exact same punishment as the AFL's you know, washed its hands of Richmond saying well we've rubbed him out for four We're Noel Bolder out for four weeks. The subsequent punishment about participating in games at night, that was a magistrate. So the sum of the AFL's punishment's been four weeks, which, if things play it the way Renny suspects they might tonight, might be the exact same punt that the Connor Nash gets for an incident on the football field. An opportune moment to chat with Neil Davis from the SAMI D Foundation here in South Australia, who themselves are having the Schnee for Sam fundraiser right through until the fourth of May, the day after the federal election. You can participate by buying a shnity from Drake's Today they're on sal I believe Neil Davis, Good morning to you.

Good morning, we're all. Good morning, Dave. How are you this morning?

Yeah, we're good. Thanks Neil, Thanks for coming on about this. What did you make of that sentence, Neil? Because from our perspective looking at it and not having had any of the harrowing life experience that you guys have gone through, you and Nat, it almost sort of seems like the law is saying it's possible to kind of get away with doing this.

I look anytime something like this happens to Our board met last week and drafted a letter to send off to the AFL thefl can be so good on certain things racism, homophobia, and just dropped the ball on this. I think our present chairman used to be the President of Port Power, Brett Duncanson, and got him together with the rest of the board and said, you know, we just have to say something we can't if it was his wife would have the AFL done something different. If it was a dog, would have the AFL done something.

Yet, you know, I got.

I was with court in court with the Sweetmens and unfortunately they lost their son Luke to a similar incident in the hotel. It's just the way the guy felt that it was lucky that we're not dealing with a manslaughter or a murder charge.

Yeah, totally.

They just have to do more. Matthew Nicks, coach of the Crows, he was king hip or a coward punched one night when he was out and that's why he's an ambassador for the Semid Foundation. And we have ambassadors that from sporting clubs or Bolly Wine is one of our ambassadors, And I was, bang, what are they thinking of this? You know, all the work that we do without any government funding. I might add to try and stop this happening to other people. It just seems to have put a mockery on it.

It seems to be to my assesstment anyway new and you would know much better than I, but it would seem so much positive progress has been made on this front to this point in time. It feels like society now takes these things much more serious, which makes it all the more bizarre to see the AFL's approach.

I think you can tell the societies the way they treat it is by the phone calls that you get into your station saying I can't believe that the AFL didn't do anything. Society is getting much better at it. Unfortunately, you know you read in the paper there's still a thousand police call outs to schools. Last year's down ninety five from previous years. Our CEO's meeting with Blair Boyer Education Minister tomorrow to see what more we can do to help or what the government can actually to help us help them. We have to get it into young people. It's not a barrel lass for us going to court with people like the Sweetenings. Seems to be that anytime someone loses someone, I'm getting a phone call saying, how do I get through this? He's been seven eight years since we lost our son. We've had him for as long as we haven't had him. Yeah, yeah, And I try and comfort parents, and I try and say this is how we can get through it. It doesn't get any better, It never gets any better, but sometimes it does get that little bit easier. And when you see the positive changes, and we get that feedback from schools, teachers and students saying we walked away because of what the Semid Foundation can coming and spoke to us about. Makes you feel a lot better.

Yeah, I know you do do a lot of work at schools, Neil, and that message does get through. So that is something that you can you can take out of it. You mentioned that you guys generate all your own funds. Tell us about the schnitties.

Sneedty for Sam snitty chicken parmi, Sam's favorite meal after a game of footy, you know, like here's one hundred and ninety five centimeters and ninety five kilos, so playing footy down at South Adelaide for two hours, he could eat two or three chicken Snitty's in the same sitting. That night, well we know because we had to pay for them. But that night before he died, he had a chicken parmi with his mates and then went to that party and never went home. And we thought, during COVID times, what's the way everyone can get together, and everyone can get together and had that snitty over zoom and took a picture of it. Some people started to send in donations. Now this year we're lucky enough, we've got over one hundred hotels that have joined in to the Snitty for Sam donating five dollars from every snizel that they've sold. Sometimes it's that day and May the fourth, sometimes it's that week, sometimes it's for the month. And Drakes were lucky enough they've been on board for a while now. All off them every especially March ones, not just in South Australia but in Queensland as well.

Yeah, because I got this this sts up there too. Well, everyone going in a drake. Absolutely. I'm going to load up on schneeze for Friday nights dinner, not settle down, have some sneeze, watch watch the Crows Frio game. Sounds like a great night. Neil. Good on your mate. You do amazing work in this space. Thanks for joining us, and you know, keep keep pushing the message because you are. You are changing minds and sadly there's a few more ones out there that need to be got to. Well some of them at AFL House I think

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David Penberthy and Will Goodings with the latest South Australian news, sport and entertainment. 6- 
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