Rawiri Wheoki, 45, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to assault.
The court heard that on November 26, the defendant was at the Oval and had been drinking.
A man there was coaching a group of children aged 9 to 16 on touch.
Wheoki threw a full can of Jim Beam at the man, which struck him on the back of his head.
The defendant then verbally abused the man before walking off.
The victim described the incident as "distressing" and said he felt "anxious" about going back to the Oval.
He worried about the children he was coaching and what might have happened if Wheoki’s anger was directed towards them.
Judge David Robinson sentenced the defendant to 60 hours of community work and said it was lucky the victim was not injured.
"Please please re-examine your relationship with alcohol.
"I suspect that’s part and parcel of this offending," the judge said to Wheoki.
At the time of the incident Otago Touch Association chairman Thys McCurdy said he believed there had been increasing violence at the Oval.
He thought this was due to an increase in the number of people sleeping at the homeless camp known as "Tent City".
"The trajectory it’s going in is not a trajectory that we would like to see continue for the safety of our people," Mr McCurdy said.
At the time of the offence, Wheoki was subject to a deferred sentence he received in November after admitting two charges of being unlawfully in a yard.
It came after he was looking through the windows of a Heriot Row property, where a group of female university students lived, claiming he was searching for alcohol.
The occupants said they noticed him walking by nearly every week.
"It’s nice to know that he has been dealt with," one woman said at the time.
They said the issue was not isolated and the incident combined with other problems left them feeling "on edge".
