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Speaker 1: Nightcliff football player has allegedly attacked a female club mate

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Speaker 1: during an off field incident, prompting a police investigation and

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Speaker 1: internal review by the club and the Northern Territory Football League.

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Speaker 1: According to a report in the Northern Territory News, the

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Speaker 1: altercation involved two members of the Nightcliff Football Club and

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Speaker 1: occurred away from official club activities. Now what we know

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Speaker 1: is there authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding that incident

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Speaker 1: and no charges have been confirmed at this point. Joining

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Speaker 1: me in the studio is the Nightcliff Football Club president

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Speaker 1: Mark Dodge. Good morning to you, Mark, Thanks so much

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Speaker 1: for your time this morning. Now, when did this incident

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Speaker 1: occur and what's alleged to have happened.

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Speaker 2: It happened just before senior training last Thursday at the

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Speaker 2: ground just in Oleander Streets are just off the ground,

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Speaker 2: but it was part of our area there.

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Speaker 3: Now, I mean, what did happen?

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Speaker 1: Going off the report in the paper, you know it's

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Speaker 1: saying that there was an altercation, but effectively, if I'm

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Speaker 1: to read this correctly, that a male player has allegedly

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Speaker 1: attacked a female clubmate.

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Speaker 2: Yes, we believe their partners. In fact, I know that

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Speaker 2: to be true. The allegations, of course still are allegations

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Speaker 2: at this stage, but it was witnessed by quite quite

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Speaker 2: senior members of our club. They are alleging that this

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Speaker 2: young man attacked his partner through her back window of

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Speaker 2: her cars, smashed back window of her car, and then

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Speaker 2: allegedly chased her up the street in the vehicle. So

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Speaker 2: it's a pretty nasty.

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Speaker 3: Incident, goodness me.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And no matter how you look at this, I mean,

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Speaker 1: whether they're partners or not, still behavior that should absolutely

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Speaker 1: not be happening, particularly at a football club one dred.

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Speaker 2: Percent, and we've been very strong on that. We've been

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Speaker 2: part of the Domestic Violence Action Plan group with No

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Speaker 2: More in TA since twenty fourteen, so we've been involved

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Speaker 2: for a long time. We have a domestic violence action

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Speaker 2: plan in place. Our plan basically says that we will

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Speaker 2: act when we hear these things and when things are proven.

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Speaker 2: Because this is a situation where people actually witnessed it.

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Speaker 2: We acted very quickly and we were on the front

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Speaker 2: foot on this particular situation.

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Speaker 1: So what steps has the football club now taken.

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Speaker 2: Well, we managed to report the incident, so that's been

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Speaker 2: reported to police as witness statements were taken. My understanding

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Speaker 2: is police are doing a thorough investigation now, including the

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Speaker 2: likely Sports Club to see if they can get vision.

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Speaker 2: I'm not sure where that's actually at this point in time.

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Speaker 2: We then immediately suspended the player a subject to investigation

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Speaker 2: and he has now been suspended from all activities within

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Speaker 2: the Likely Foot Club, including training or anything to do

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Speaker 2: with the Likeli Football Club.

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Speaker 3: And how long will that suspension stay in place?

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Speaker 1: I mean, presumably a police investigation has to go on.

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Speaker 1: Is there a situation here where he may be kicked

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Speaker 1: from the club.

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Speaker 2: Depending on what the investigation comes back with. Let's take

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Speaker 2: this particular incident aside for a second. If a person

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Speaker 2: is deemed to be bringing the club into distribute, or

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Speaker 2: is actually acting in a violent manner and has been proven,

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Speaker 2: then we will take steps to echect them from the club.

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Speaker 2: But having said that, we also very keen to make

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Speaker 2: sure that we offer support to that particular person, the

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Speaker 2: victim and the perpetrator, because it's absolutely no point in

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Speaker 2: just cutting people loose and saying look off you go,

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Speaker 2: we don't want to talk to you anymore. So we

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Speaker 2: as a club already offered counseling to the perpetrator and

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Speaker 2: to the victim.

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Speaker 3: So there is that counseling happening for both both of

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Speaker 3: those players.

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Speaker 4: Understanding is it's happening.

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Speaker 2: They haven't come to us for any sort of recommence

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Speaker 2: or suggestions in that way, but my understanding that it's happened.

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Speaker 2: We've actually offered that as well as a club through

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Speaker 2: the No More program.

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Speaker 1: Mark of these both players from your Premier League teams.

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Speaker 2: They're both senior players, senior players. One of them is

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Speaker 2: a fringe senior player and is a Premier League player.

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Speaker 1: I mean, how important is it here that the club

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Speaker 1: really deals with this and deals with this in a

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Speaker 1: strong way, because the last thing that anybody wants is,

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Speaker 1: you know, any kind.

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Speaker 3: Of physical assault alleged.

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Speaker 1: I mean, particularly then when you're talking about you know,

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Speaker 1: are male on female.

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Speaker 3: If I'm to understand this correctly.

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Speaker 2: We stand against domestic family vince or violence of any

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Speaker 2: type at the Nightcliff Football Club. As soon as we

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Speaker 2: were made aware of that on the Friday morning, we

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Speaker 2: took steps immediately to put a Facebook and Instagram post

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Speaker 2: out to our members. That's the best way for us

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Speaker 2: to communicate on master members saying that we're aware of

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Speaker 2: this incident that we're taking steps to offer support to

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Speaker 2: both players as well as reported it.

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Speaker 4: To the police.

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Speaker 1: Mark I have got a message that came through from

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Speaker 1: a junior parent at the Nightcliff Football Club and they say,

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Speaker 1: we have not been issued any communication about the incident

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Speaker 1: that happened at the grounds last week. It's concerning that

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Speaker 1: the club's not provided any information to its members, in

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Speaker 1: particular the junior teams and their coaches, who were worried.

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Speaker 1: Given that we shared training facilities with the senior players.

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Speaker 1: It's amiss of the club not to acknowledge the incident

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Speaker 1: or provide reassurance about what steps are being taken to

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Speaker 1: ensure the safety and well being of all members. This

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Speaker 1: parent said, first off, why hasn't the club communicated with

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Speaker 1: its men members about the incident and what message does

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Speaker 1: the club want to send to its members about respect,

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Speaker 1: safety and behavior both on and off the field.

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Speaker 4: I think that's a valid concern from that parent.

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Speaker 2: We find the best way to communicate to our members

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Speaker 2: directly is through Facebook and Instagram, and we did that immediately.

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Speaker 2: We wrote a post in there immediately saying these are

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Speaker 2: the steps that we've taken. We had to be very

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Speaker 2: careful because we it's a police investigation, so we can't

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Speaker 2: actually name players. And the NC News got the story.

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Speaker 2: The Thaniel Chambers is a very good journalist that he

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Speaker 2: got the story and they asked me for some quotes

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Speaker 2: over the weekend, which I gave him. But we've been

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Speaker 2: on other radio stations but obviously now but we've been

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Speaker 2: communicating directly with members through that way. So we don't

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Speaker 2: send an email through everybody, but we actually did that

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Speaker 2: through the Facebook post. I know they've got chat groups.

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Speaker 2: It's not appropriate to put things up on chat groups.

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Speaker 2: It's all through the public comes from the president.

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Speaker 1: Just on that point, what message does the club want

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Speaker 1: to send to its members about respect, safety and behavior

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Speaker 1: both on and off the field.

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Speaker 3: You know, what message do you want to send.

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Speaker 2: We stand by our domestic violence Action Plan, but it's

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Speaker 2: basically it's a prelevent in our community unfortunately violence and

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Speaker 2: we know that we're part of a big group of

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Speaker 2: people and we're probably a reflection on what goes on

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Speaker 2: society or we don't stand for it. We've got a

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Speaker 2: zero tolerance when it comes to that type of any

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Speaker 2: type of violence, but particularly domestic family violence. We know

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Speaker 2: unfortunately that probably some people in our club are facing

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Speaker 2: that situation today. We want them to know. That's one

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Speaker 2: of the reasons why we're on the front foot straight away.

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Speaker 2: We want them to know if they come to the

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Speaker 2: club and ask for help, we will put them in

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Speaker 2: contact with the right people and will offt that mentorship.

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Speaker 2: They can do that either through coming to us directly.

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Speaker 2: They can go through no more nt if they want to,

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Speaker 2: but probably the best way to get to come through

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Speaker 2: the club directly, speak to somebody and we'll make that

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Speaker 2: action happen.

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Speaker 1: Just finally, how is the club also working now with

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Speaker 1: the NTFL and the police to make sure that there

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Speaker 1: is transparency but also maintain that public confidence in the

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Speaker 1: club's handling.

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Speaker 3: Of the matter.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we are working with the NCFL directly. So NGfL

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Speaker 2: have been involved all the way through. I've informed them

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Speaker 2: straight away, contact them through the relevant channel, and we

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Speaker 2: are working with the nc police. So we are handling

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Speaker 2: this matter as best we can. We have to make

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Speaker 2: sure that we wait until such time as the investigation

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Speaker 2: is complete because under the law, of course, everybody is

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Speaker 2: innocent until proven guilty. This situation was slightly different code.

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Speaker 2: That's why we move so quickly in that we actually

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Speaker 2: had members, senior members of our coaching staff and players

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Speaker 2: actually witness the incident, so that's where we acted very quickly.

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Speaker 3: Most everybody pretty rattled.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's been tough week.

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Speaker 2: It's been a very tough week for me, Percy, but

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Speaker 2: also obviously for our members that saw that. We wanted

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Speaker 2: to make sure that people knew that we were across

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Speaker 2: this situation. We're there to offer safe, safe fame position.

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Speaker 2: These two people were very much known to each other.

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Speaker 2: I understand our partners in life, so it's not like

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Speaker 2: somebody came into the club and attacked somebody straight as

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Speaker 2: a stranger, but it still was very very nasty. It

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Speaker 2: makes no difference to us. Any type of advance is

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Speaker 2: not good, and we wanted to make sure that people

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Speaker 2: know that we have a safe and other standing place

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Speaker 2: to play football, enjoy themselves and come up volunteers as well.

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Speaker 1: Mark Dodge, President of the Night Cliff Football Club. We

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Speaker 1: are going to have to leave it there. Thanks so

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Speaker 1: much for your time this morning, pleasure.

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Speaker 3: Thank you