Melbourne Footballer's Team Will Not Play Next Match After Death

Wednesday, 8 July 2026, 5:14 am

Luke De Vincentis says teammates will not play the next match.

Nathan Fitzgerald's teammates will not play this weekend after his death on Monday.

The Epping Football Netball Club will hold a service for Nathan Fitzgerald. The under 19.5s and seniors teams will still play. The club will also hold a commemorative service on Saturday.

The service will be at Epping Recreation Reserve and is open to the public.

Nathan Fitzgerald was a great teacher and player, says Mernda Central College.

AFL players will wear black armbands this weekend to respect Nathan Fitzgerald.

The Melbourne Demons and Richmond Tigers will have a minute's silence before their match on Sunday.

The AFL will tell all clubs to wear black armbands during matches this weekend.

Many football clubs will run through banners to pay tribute to Nathan Fitzgerald.

Some footy clubs will show their support by running through banners.

The banners were given by Mark Lunn, who owns a banner printing business.

Mark Lunn wanted to help the footy community after Nathan's death.

Nathan's death has made people think about how cricket pitches are covered.

People have left flowers at the clubroom doors to remember Nathan.

WorkSafe is looking into the incident where Nathan got hurt.

Luke De Vincentis and Matthew Fitzgerald are at the Epping football ground.

Matthew Fitzgerald thinks the safe coverage of cricket pitches needs to be looked at.

The council is following rules, but maybe the rules need to change.

If something bad happens, we want to know we did everything we could.

The club will hold a service to honor Nathan this Saturday.

Luke De Vincentis wants administrators to find safer ways to cover cricket pitches.

Leagues will not stop playing games until something is done.

The current solution is within the rules, but the rules need to change.

It usually takes a tragedy to make a change, and hopefully, something good will come from this.

Wednesday, 8 July 2026, 5:14 am

Wednesday, 8 July 2026, 10:47 am

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