Three-month jail sentence for man who interrupted NRL game in Cronulla with flare

Wests Tigers captain James Tamou wants the actions of a protester carrying a flare to serve as a wake-up call for NRL officials after four mid-match pitch invasions at Pointsbet Stadium.

The flare-carrying pitch invader was on Monday fined and sentenced to three months in prison after pleading guilty to two charges in Sutherland local court – entering enclosed land without a lawful excuse and possessing a bright light distress signal in a public place.

In a bizarre sequence of events, play was stopped for several minutes during the Tigers’ loss to Cronulla on Sunday after the protester entered the field with a smoking orange flare in hand.

The man, draped in a red “Fireproof Australia” banner, was able to get within touching distance of players before he was stopped by security and was at one point held by Tigers lock Joe Ofahenguae.

He was removed from the field but shortly after three spectators entered the field as ground staff attempted to extinguish the after-effects of the flare. The initial pitch invader was arrested.

The incident came just a day after a female pitch invader was heavily tackled by security on the Gold Coast in Parramatta’s win over the Titans on Saturday night.

Questions will be raised over how the man was able to get a flare into the ground and why he was able to get so close to players with it in hand.

“To get that close to players, things like that, who knows what his intentions were,” Tamou said. “Luckily nothing happened but hopefully this situation puts a bit more urgency into upcoming games.”

Cronulla captain Dale Finucane also expressed frustration over the incident.

“It obviously disrupted the game with a flow of it,” Finucane said. “I think the people who will be most disappointed will