A Perth mayor has alleged a player from a local football club attended the team’s ‘Silly Sunday’ party dressed in a costume with images ‘depicting child pornography’.
City of Stirling Mayor Mark Irwin made the claim after the Osborne Park Football Club had its licence cancelled and police were called after the unnamed player attended the function in August dressed as scientist Stephen Hawking.
The costume depicted the wheelchair and electronic communication device Hawking used as he suffered from motor neurone disease, with offensive images fixed to the communication device’s screens.
Irwin said the outfit featured ‘a gaming chair set-up, with screens … with images photocopied depicting child pornography’.
‘This device was left in club rooms despite knowing the City of Stirling had to send staff there the next day for an inspection,’ Irwin told the ABC.
‘We don’t want to start accusing anyone of illegal activity … it has been reported to the appropriate authorities, but it was depicting it.
City of Stirling Mayor Mark Irwin (pictured) has claimed a football player wore a costume ‘depicting child pornography’ to an end-of-season party
The president of Perth’s Osborne Park Football Club has hit back at the allegation
The club does not deny that the costume worn to its Silly Sunday party was ‘incredibly distasteful’ (Daily Mail does not suggest any of the pictured Osborne Park players were involved in the incident)
‘If anyone wants to ring me up and have a chat and tell me what level of child pornography is acceptable in our community, I’m happy to have that conversation.’
In addition to being thrown out of their council-owned clubhouse, the Osborne Park Club have been issued with a show-cause notice after being threatened with expulsion from the Perth Football League.
Club president Jeremy LaBianca issued a statement admitting the costume was highly offensive, but rejecting Irwin’s child pornography claim.
‘City of Stirling Mayor, Mark Irwin, suggested that the items found at the club contained child pornography,’ LaBianca wrote.
‘The item in question, part of the Silly Sunday costume, had a photo of the player himself on it. It did not contain photos of anyone else.
‘It was an offensive and incredibly distasteful costume, I am in no way trying to dispute that or defend the decision.
‘Based on all of the advice we have received to date however, this is not a police matter.
‘The police attended the club and inspected the item, and have not progressed further with an investigation.
Irwin claims the offensive images were part of the player’s outfit as he dressed up as renowned scientist Stephen Hawking (pictured)
‘The allegation of child pornography hits me really hard – as it does for many members of our community who are parents, own businesses and/or have public facing roles. It’s incredibly important to us to clarify this point.’
After the discovery of the costume, the council secured the club’s premises and contacted WA Police due to the ‘inappropriate nature of the items’.
West Australian Police said they received a report ‘that involved alleged inappropriate images displayed by an individual during an event at a northern suburbs sporting club in August this year’.
‘Local police, supported by officers from the Sex Crime Division, worked with the club to determine if any criminal offences occurred. No criminality was detected,’ a police statement read.
A spokesman for the council said, ‘The City has since terminated the club’s licence on grounds of unreasonable licensee conduct, as specified in the club’s licence agreement.
‘The City added this unreasonable licensee conduct clause to the licence agreement in April 2023 after repeated difficulties dealing with club leadership.
‘Terminating a licence is not a course of action the City takes lightly, but the conduct in question was not only unreasonable – it was completely unacceptable.’
The Daily Mail does not suggest that the player involved committed an offence, just that police were called.
Irwin said the council staffers who discovered the outfit were left extremely shocked.
‘The club have a pattern of poor form and poor behaviour,’ he told Perth’s Radio 6PR.
‘Nobody did anything to stop it.
‘It’s been completely underplayed by the club and the seriousness is something that they probably can’t come back from.
‘There were several [council] employees involved in this, in the initial finding of it [the costume], having to seal off the area, who were extremely distressed.
‘This is the first time this has ever happened. We are not a council that overreacts.
‘This is something the general public have zero tolerance for, and it should never be accepted.’
