An animal rights activist was tackled by a star footy player after invading the pitch during the first ever AFL Women’s western derby.
Protestor Tash Peterson, 26, ran onto the oval with a black flag that read ‘right to rescue’ at Perth’s Optus Stadium late in the first half of the Fremantle and West Coast game on Saturday.
Fremantle midfielder Kiara Bowers made short work of Ms Peterson, tackling her and holding her shirt while security guards rushed to detain the vegan activist.
In addition to appearing in the AFLW broadcast, Ms Peterson’s stunt was also livestreamed to Facebook by animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere (DXE).
Ms Peterson previously smothered herself in fake blood and stood with a fake butchered pig’s head under her arm in Coles and Woolworths stores in December last year.
Protestor Tash Peterson, 26, ran onto the oval with a black flag that read ‘right to rescue’ at Perth’s Optus Stadium, late in the first half of the Fremantle and West Coast game on Saturday
Fremantle midfielder Kiara Bowers made short work of Ms Peterson, tackling her and holding her shirt while security guards rushed to detain the vegan activist
In livestreamed footage of the protest, Ms Peterson can be seen jumping the fence onto the oval with her flag in hand.
Wearing tights that said ‘vegan booty’ and a ‘right to rescue’ crop top, the activist made a beeline to the centre of the pitch, where she was tackled by Bowers.
‘As you can see Tash Peterson has just been taken off of the field now. She’s likely to be arrested,’ the woman recording the video said.
Dockers star Bowers was the best on ground in the 45-point Fremantle victory, making 13 disposals and 18 tackles.
‘We’re here to play football and we just wanted to get on with the game,’ Bowers said after the landslide victory.
The star player joked that her tackle of the protester should have counted as an extra tackle, as she was just three off beating the AFLW tackle record of 21.
Meanwhile, Ms Peterson was served a three-year ban from Optus Stadium and pulled a leg muscle from running on the field.
In livestreamed footage of the protest, Ms Peterson can be seen jumping the fence onto the oval with her flag in hand.
‘As you can see Tash Peterson has just been taken off of the field now. She’s likely to be arrested,’ the woman recording the video said. Ms Peterson was served a three-year ban from Optus Stadium and pulled a leg muscle from running on the field
DXE posted another video of Ms Peterson, filmed before the match, in which she explained what the groups ‘right to rescue’ campaign. ‘We believe that if an animal is sick, suffering or dying, that we have the right to help them,’ she said in the video
After the game, DXE’s Perth page posted a debriefing video, in which Ms Peterson said the protest ‘couldn’t have worked out better, really’.
‘There was security all around the oval and there was a guy about 10 metres away from me, so I was concerned that they were going to get me almost immediately but I managed to get across,’ she said.
DXE posted another video of Ms Peterson, filmed before the match, in which she explained what the groups ‘right to rescue’ campaign.
Tash Peterson made her way into a Woolworths and Coles and disrupted shoppers in the meat department
‘We believe that if an animal is sick, suffering or dying, that we have the right to help them,’ she said in the video.
The video included footage of DXE member James Warden carrying a calf around his shoulders.
Mr Warden has denied breaking into White Rocks Dairy, near Bunbury, WA, and stealing a a $1,500 fresian calf in October 2018.
‘My friends rescued a bobby calf named Theodore from a dairy farm here in WA. Theodore was taken to a sanctuary to live out the rest of his life in peace but when the police found out, they took him back to the farm,’ Ms Peterson said in the clip.
‘Bobby calves like Theodore are often killed at just five days old.’
On Christmas Eve last year, Ms Peterson entered supermarkets with a stereo blasting cow and pig noises – calling on the supermarkets to reveal where their meat ‘really comes from’.
Tash Peterson, dressed in a bloodied apron with a fake butchered pig’s head under her arm and wearing a face mask, made her protest at Western Australia stores.
The back of her shirt read: ‘Your ”food” fought for their life. That should leave a bad taste in your mouth.’
The 26-year-old held a sign which demanded: ‘Coles/Woolworths Tell them the truth.’
Ms Peterson made her way to the butcher section of the supermarkets and stood silently as a stereo blasted sounds of cows and pigs being slaughtered, much to the displeasure of customers shopping for their Christmas meats.