THE AFL has sacked the chair of its Appeals Board after the controversial Lance Collard verdict on Thursday night.

The League announced on Saturday that it has terminated the appointment of Will Houghton KC, who has served as chair for two years.

It comes after the AFL slammed the Appeals Board's decision to reduce the penalty handed to Collard for using a homophobic slur in a VFL game, reiterating its stance that there is no place for homophobia in the game.

AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said a penalty larger than Collard's eventual four-game ban "was not only warranted – it was necessary" and said the League would not "accept, excuse or normalise behaviour or language that demeans, discriminates or vilifies people based on who they are".

Dillon was also highly critical of the Appeals Board's reasoning, which Mr Houghton read during the hearing on Thursday.

"The AFL specifically rejects the Appeals Board's reasoning which stated, 'it is commonplace that players can employ language from time to time which is racist, sexist or homophobic whilst on the field'," he said.

"The AFL strongly rejects the statement not only that such language is commonplace, but also any implication that may be a factor in determining the severity of the sanction."

Collard was initially handed a nine-game suspension after the Tribunal found he had used a homophobic slur during a VFL game against Frankston on April 9. It was the second time he had been found guilty of using that slur, having been suspended for six games after pleading guilty to his first offence in 2024.

However, Collard appealed the nine-game suspension on Thursday night at the Appeals Board, which found the penalty was manifestly excessive, reducing it to four matches with two games suspended until the end of 2027.

"The AFL advises that it has terminated the appointment of Will Houghton KC as Chair of the AFL Appeals Board effective immediately," the AFL said in a statement on Saturday.

"Mr Houghton served as Chair since his appointment in March 2024 and has contributed at club level over many years and the AFL thanks him for his service."

AFL Appeals Board's Lance Collard sanction judgment reasoning

The Appeal Board is required to deal with every case before it on its own facts and circumstances.

In this case, Collard suffered a sanction of nine weeks, which was cumulative to the two-week suspension he had already suffered for a strike to an opposing player in the same game. Two weeks of that penalty was suspended.

The Tribunal had regard to a number of matters in coming to that decision. There had been a number of previous decisions which suggested a range of penalties for players using the term f*****t, which was between three and six weeks.

However, in none of those prior decisions did the Tribunal have any role, because the AFL and the player had come to an agreement. There was also reliance placed by the tribunal upon a prior conviction of Collard in 2024 when he received a six week sanction using the term f*****t a number of times during the course of the game to several opposing players, and that he was warned about using that term. Again, it was an agreed sanction between the AFL and the player.

That conduct though was clearly in a worse category than the present incident, where the phrase was said once to two players who recollected.

We observe that football is a hard game. It is highly competitive, particularly at its higher levels. It is commonplace that players can employ language from time to time which is racist, sexist or homophobic whilst on the field.

We observe that it's to the credit of the AFL and the Tribunal that its efforts to eliminate these comments appear to be succeeding. However, that cannot be at the price of imposing what this board considers to be a crippling penalty on the appellant of this case.

We describe it as crippling because there was evidence before the Tribunal in the sanction in both hearings that a penalty of this extent would finish him off as a player of professional football. We note the following in regard to Collard.

First, his previous misconduct in 2024 was more serious, and probably far more serious than the present offence.

Secondly, his age. He's a young man and he's Indigenous.

Thirdly, his difficult background, of which evidence was led.

Fourthly, the fact that the recipient of the remark, Hipwell, was not offended by the comment.

Fifth, he had at that time struck an opposing player, given away a free kick and had been jostled, roughed up and verbally challenged by a number of his opponents. We've also had regard to the fact of general and specific deterrence in coming to our own view on the penalty.

Ultimately, the Appeal Board has come to the view that the sanction imposed on player collard by the Tribunal was manifestly excessive. In lieu thereof, we would impose a sanction of four weeks, with two weeks suspended for the remainder of this VFL/AFL season and the 2027 VFL/AFL season, cumulative to Collard’s two-week suspension for striking.