CARLTON Football Club has this evening accepted the AFL Appeal Board decision relating to both Ed and Charlie Curnow.

Head of Football Andrew McKay said the Club will accept, but is disappointed by, the decision to find Ed Curnow guilty of intentional contact with an umpire following last week’s game against Essendon at the MCG.

“While the Club respects the process taken by the AFL, there is clearly a level of confusion around the AFL’s stance on contact with umpires, given the number of previous cases and discrepancies in sanctions over recent weeks,” McKay said.

“We feel there was a very reasonable jury at Tuesday’s AFL Tribunal hearing, which subsequently found Ed and Charlie guilty of careless contact.

“It is undisputed that the players made contact with the umpires. This was made clear by both players pleading guilty to careless contact, as opposed to intentional. We do believe the Tribunal jury acted reasonably to reach the correct outcome based on the evidence presented on Tuesday.

“Although it is a bittersweet result with Charlie free to play this weekend, we are clearly disappointed for Ed. However, we now accept the outcome and move on, with our focus on this Sunday’s game against Melbourne.”