George Calombaris fined $1000 following soccer stoush

MasterChef‘s George Calombaris has been fined $1000 following a post A-League incident at Moore Park in May.

Calombaris, who attended Downing Centre Court this morning, previously pleaded guilty to punching a spectator in the abdomen after heated words were exchanged.

A lawyer for Calombaris said he believed the fan had shouted abuse about his mother first, saying he feels “regret, remorse and shame” over his actions, and has faced significant consequences, including media attention and losing a $300,000 ambassadorship.

Following his guilty plea, Calombaris said he would not attend A-League matches for 12 months and would stand down as Melbourne Victory’s number one ticket-holder.

Magistrate Peter Miszalski said he may well have been subjected to crowd abuse but should not have engaged.

“To see a man like this come before the court is tragic. The situation of getting sucked into the drama, that’s my expression, then to go in and deliberately punch someone, calls for some element of deterrence,” he noted.

“When the punch landed, that victim’s gone backwards. I’m sending a message out to the community that if you’re in the public arena and if you’re punching people and hurting people, there will be consequences.”

He also said had been a fan of MasterChef for “a long time ago”, with his favourite part being when the chefs caramelised onions.

Source: Fairfax