A WEST Wallsend player charged over an ugly all-in brawl during a game against Dora Creek that triggered a police investigation, one team being banned, five players being stood down and the majority of the Newcastle and Hunter Rugby League board stepping aside, has avoided a jail term in Toronto Local Court.
Tyson Leota, 22, in September became the first person charged by police over the chaotic sideline melee at Dora Creek Workers Club Oval.
Mr Leota, who was on parole after serving a year in jail for assaulting police and resisting arrest, was twice refused bail and had been behind bars since September.
But on Friday, Mr Leota pleaded guilty to affray after prosecutors dropped a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and he was placed on a three-year community corrections order, the equivalent to a good behaviour bond.
The Newcastle Herald reported in September that Mr Leota claimed he and his teammates were racially abused - labelled "black dogs, monkeys and apes" - before the brawl broke out.
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