25 August, 2015 9:30

CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT

Photographs have emerged of armed Queensland police officers confronting an overweight Sydney man on an artificial beach and making him remove some of his clothing, as part of a controversial ban on all NSW Blues merchandise.

Authorities in several Queensland towns have implemented bans on the NSW Origin kit, which covers the body and head, citing concerns about religious clothing in the wake of recent salary cap scandals and Origin-related tensions throughout the country.

The images of police confronting the man at the South Bank Baths on Tuesday show at least four police officers standing over a rather husky unit who was resting on the shore at the city’s man-made beach, the scene of last month’s post-Origin celebrations.

After they arrive, he appears to hesitantly remove a blue-coloured headpiece with blue dreadlocks, although one of the officers appears to take notes or issue an on-the-spot fine.

The photographs emerged as a mother of two also told on Tuesday how she had been fined on the beach in nearby Cairns for wearing a blue afro wig, another style of religious headwear popular amongst NSW grubs.

Her ticket, seen by Fairfax news, read that she was not wearing “an outfit respecting good morals and secularism”.