The weekend brawl in a FOGS Cup Colts match between Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles and West Panthers raised that old chestnut – should what happens on the field stay on the field?

Sea Eagles CEO Brett Winkler certainly thinks so.

On Monday he said no legal action would be taken against any Panthers players, despite a Sea Eagle having his beak broken in the scuffle.

While there are clearly legitimate arguments for both sides of the fence, I agree with Winkler that, unless something blatantly unsociable occurs on the sporting field, the lawyers should stay out of it.

Unfortunately, not everyone agrees.

The Daily has been made aware of at least two players involved in certain Sunshine Coast football codes who are being sued after injuring an opposition player.

Both cases occurred in a contact sport, so surely players enter the field of battle fully aware of the risks involved.

There have been many instances in national and international sport this year where the victim could have launched legal action.

What about Gold Coast Titan Daniel Conn, who had his chick magnet features rearranged by Michael Weyman? It put his modelling career on hold so he’s lost a source of income and could easily have taken the Canberra Raider to court.

Some may argue that if you punched someone down the street, you would have the book thrown at you, so why should it be any different on a sporting field?

That’s true, but Australia’s football codes are amongst the most brutal sports on the planet.

In the heat of battle the odd blow-up or accidental dodgy tackle can happen, and most people who play contact sport realise this.

One thing’s for sure – sport belongs on a basketball, netball or volleyball court, not in a court of law.

If players suing others for on-field incidents starts to become commonplace, it will result in plenty of blokes asking themselves: “Is playing this weekend really worth the risk?”

That would be a great shame.