North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson avoided suspension after a verbal tirade during his club’s Round 11 loss to Port Adelaide.

He was investigated by the AFL after allegedly swearing following an umpire’s decision during that match, with the league confirming Clarkson had used colourful language but they could not verify who it was said to.

Had he been found guilty of conduct unbecoming, he would have triggered a suspended two-match ban hanging over his head for a homophobic slur he made toward two St Kilda players in the pre-season.

He would have been in unique territory – the rare indignity of being a suspended senior coach. But his exoneration means Clarkson will be available to coach North Melbourne at their next match – the Round 13 clash against West Coast on June 8.

While this decision will come as a huge surprise to large groups of fans and media personalities who thought the AFL should throw the kitchen sink at him, it was difficult to prove that the master coach targeted the umpires.

As Gerard Whateley said on SEN: “The nature of those two swear words combined in response to an umpiring decision suggests that the outburst had a target, but that’s very difficult to actually prove.”

The popular opinion over the last few days when the AFL investigation first came to light was he should be punished hard. Some were calling for suspensions of five or more weeks.

Essendon premiership full-forward Matthew Lloyd told Footy Classified on Wednesday night he thought the AFL should “properly” investigate and punish Clarkson hard for the alleged use of foul language.

Meantime, former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire said he believed the alleged act, if found to have occurred, should incur a minimum suspension of five weeks.

But in the same conversation, McGuire acknowledged that panellists on the same show were asking him to be tougher just a week earlier. They said he wasn’t passionate enough and had ‘lost his edge’.

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It’s quite ironic that people say we need to place a larger emphasis on mental health and be more supportive of people doing it tough and yet don’t support people when they might be struggling.

We condemn the large suicide rate. When someone fatally takes their own life, everyone says we should have done more to support them.

But is it just a token gesture? Why do we wait until it’s too late?

While I am not condoning disrespectful behaviour, and those who know me know I pride myself on integrity and having the utmost respect towards others, I will generally always call out poor behaviour.

But I also believe in giving people a chance to improve.

Clarkson put his hand up last year and had to step away from the game he loves because the pile-on pressure was getting too much. He needed to take a break for his own mental health and it’s not easy for people to do that, especially men. Women tend to be more open to speaking about their emotions, but males tend to struggle to openly share how they are feeling.

It was brave for Clarkson to do that. But now, after a homophobic slur in the pre-season, for which he received a two-match suspended sentence and a $20,000 fine, the North Melbourne mentor found himself passionately expressing his frustration when an umpiring decision went against his young side.

Unfortunately, others around him reportedly heard him use vile language in a manner which was heard by those near the umpires’ bench.

What ensued was an AFL investigation to determine if his comments were targeted towards umpires and officials or not.

Yes, people will easily point to Clarkson’s long list of misdemeanours and some already have. They use that as justification that the man has lost his marbles. But that easy way out is a cop-out… it’s not as clear as that.

Alastair Clarkson acknowledged what he said wrong.

“I acknowledge that during the third quarter of Saturday’s game in a moment of frustration I lost my temper and swore while I was coaching from the bench,” Clarkson said in a North Melbourne statement.

He took accountability for stepping out of line.

“It was undisciplined by me and I have expressed my apologies to the AFL.”

He then went on to take measures to minimise the recurrence of a similar incident by confirming he will not coach from the bench for the remainder of the 2024 season.

In a world where mental health and wellbeing have become of paramount importance, the pile-on against the four-time Hawks premiership coach was mind-boggling. Our court systems are based on the presumption of innocent until proven guilty. While it was not a court case, the AFL investigation concluded that there was insufficient evidence to find that Clarkson’s outburst was directed towards the umpires directly.

The 56-year-old was remorseful for his actions and vowed to improve his behaviour. He has apologised, he took accountability for his actions and has taken steps to address it and minimise it moving forward.

As a society, we need to get better.

The language needs to improve and the level of respect towards others, including umpires and officials needs to increase. But in the same token, we can’t be saying we care about people’s mental health and wellbeing and yet destroy them every time they make a mistake because humans are inevitably going to make mistakes. A wise person once said, ‘There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes, the important thing is to learn from them’. He made a mistake and is learning from it.

After all, the guy is human.

While not condoning the use of inappropriate language, his team is getting smashed every single week, he has been dealing with serious allegations of racism levelled against him that he has vehemently denied, he has tried mediation but that has been unsuccessful, when he’s been soft and friendly with his players, critics claim he is too soft and has lost his sharp edge, then when he is passionate and disagrees with an umpiring decision that went against his side, he is hung from pillar to post.

Yes, as adults, we are accountable and responsible for our words, behaviour and actions. Also, little children playing Auskick and in junior developmental leagues look up to the senior AFL players and coaches as role models, so the AFL does have a responsibility to stamp out poor behaviour.

In a recent survey, one in three people said work stress was having an impact on them. And AFL coaches are not immune to that. So, it’s time we treat them like humans.