Aussie cricket great lashes out after brutal brawl at multicultural match that was supposed to promote diversity sees players banned for 13 YEARS
Athlete turned sports administrator Copeland is the Sydney Thunder general manager - and the Big Bash franchise have staged the Thunder Nation Cup for the past 12 years.
Whether it continues in the same format remains to be seen following wild scenes in a semi-final last year between teams representing India and Afghanistan.
Punches were exchanged on field - and reportedly off the field as well.
Following the chaotic scenes, the match was abandoned and both teams were disqualified from the competition.
Indian players Arun Chauhan and Goldy Kotia and Afghani player Hilal Tawakal were all banned by Cricket NSW integrity for 42 months each.
Amanjyot Singh and Mohan Pannu - both from the Indian XI - received suspensions of 12 and 18 months respectively.
Copeland made no apologies for the heavy bans, which totalled 13 years.
'The significance of the sanctions is the message. If you look at those you will understand how seriously we take improper conduct, Copeland told News Corp.
'Cricket is a safe space and we just don't stand for anything like that.
'The purpose of Thunder Nation Cup is to create a fostering environment for people who don't have English as their first spoken language or have just migrated to Australia and are finding a place or connection with other people through cricket.
'I've never seen suspensions to this degree. But there's a streamlined (integrity) process and it's quite obvious this is where it needed to land.'
Copeland also confirmed a review will be conducted into the format of the popular park cricket competition.
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