Australian Rules Football Player Legitimately Tries to Kill His Opponent Mid-Game

Tempers tend to run hot during sporting events and people have been known to do some ridiculous things in the heat of the moment. Much latitude is given to the fiercely competitive, but there’s still a line in the sand not to be crossed.

That is to say: you can’t try to commit homicide during the middle of a game, no matter how angry you may be.

Brian Lake, who plays Australian League Football for Hawthorn, crossed that line when he tried to straight-up strangle North Melbourne’s Drew Petrie.

After initially saying he almost fell asleep, Petrie walked back his comments in an interview with the Herald Sun.

Asked if he had been struggling to breathe, Petrie said he dropped his arms at one point during the scuffle in the hope the pair would both get back to the game.

“I was engaged, initially, as well and then I put my arms down hoping that we would both stand up and run back to position,’’ Petrie said.

“We managed to keep going on there, so I had to get back involved.’’

Now, I’m no expert, but playing dead doesn’t seem to be an effective strategy when another man is attempting to choke the life out of you.

I was also genuinely surprised to find out strangling is outlawed in the AFL. No one actually knows the rules of that sport and everything else seems to fly in Australia. Guess that country has gone soft.

[H/T: Bleacher Report]