Teammates of Melbourne footballer will sit next match out after death

Teammates of Epping football player Nathan Fitzgerald, who died on Monday night following catastrophic head injuries he received on the field on Saturday, will sit this weekend's match out.

Epping Football Netball Club president Luke De Vincentis said the reserves team, which the 27-year-old mainly played in, had decided to miss their planned match, while the under 19.5s and seniors would still play.

The club will also hold a commemorative service this Saturday in honour of Mr Fitzgerald, a much-loved player and high school teacher.

The service, to be held at Epping Recreation Reserve, will be open to the public.

Players at all 18 AFL clubs will wear black armbands at matches this weekend as a mark of respect.

"In addition, the Melbourne Demons and Nathan's beloved Richmond Tigers will hold a minute's silence before their match on Sunday at the MCG," AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said in a statement.

"The AFL will also communicate to all community football leagues and clubs around the country and encourage all players to wear black armbands during this weekend's matches."

More than half a dozen Victorian football clubs, including Epping, plan to run through banners at their matches this weekend to pay tribute to Mr Fitzgerald, or "Fitzy" as he was known to his club mates.

They were donated by Mark Lunn, who runs a banner printing business in South Australia.

"I wanted back to give to the footy community like the footy community is giving to the family and Epping football club, who are grieving and suffering greatly at the moment," he said.

Mr Fitzgerald's death has put a spotlight on the way cricket pitches are covered on multi-use community sporting ovals.

WorkSafe is investigating the incident at Lalor Recreation Reserve, in which Mr Fitzgerald suffered two head knocks in quick succession before his head collided with a cricket pitch, comprised of a "shock-absorbing" pad over the top of a concrete slab.

Mr Fitzgerald's younger brother Matthew said the safe coverage of cricket pitches on football ovals needed to be assessed, not just at the Lalor Recreation Reserve but more broadly.

"We all know a cricket pitch and a football pitch don't belong together,"

he said.

"[The council] haven't done anything wrong, they are following guidelines. But I think we should look into it — are we doing everything we can?

"If a tragedy does happen, we want to become comfortable that we've done everything we can."

Mr De Vincentis said he was not a "subject matter expert" on field safety but he wanted administrators and experts to get together to find safer ways to cover cricket pitches.

"I don't think leagues are going to shut up shop now and not play games of footy until something is rectified," he said.

"It's going to remain a risk … until AFL Victoria, Cricket Victoria, local councils get together and work on a solution that's better than what we currently have.

"The current solution is within the guidelines — no-one is negligent here. Everyone's doing the right thing but the guidelines need to change.

"Unfortunately, given what happened on the weekend, it generally takes a tragedy to enact change and I'm hoping this is one of those tragedies where something really positive can come out of it."