Vohra: Fine match officials for their errors

Bikram Vohra 11:02 22/10/2015
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  • Under fire: Craig Joubert.

    I have often wondered when I read about someone having his match fee withdrawn or cut for an infringement of courtesy, or the rules how it is done.

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    Does the culprit sign a cheque or is the money kept in escrow and, if so, how is it accounted for now that it is back in the till? That way all the fines could accumulate and at the end of the year they could have a raffle. You never really get to hear where the money went. 

    Perhaps a better idea than the association saving their money, the sum subtracted was given to the accused person’s favourite charity. Why should officialdom enjoy the financial windfall? The ATP and the NFL do that but it is yet to become the norm and such dispensation should be well publicised.

    That way, someone like Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho would at least have the satisfaction of knowing that the £50,000 docked from his fee for bad-mouthing the umpires after the match against Southampton has gone to help someone and not in the FA’s coffers.

    It is also a bit excessive for what was as much an observation as it was a criticism of the referees being chary about not awarding what he believed were legitimate penalties to Chelsea. It was scarcely a rant and the matter should have been ignored or simply spanned by a mild reprimand.

    One is hard-placed to understand this protection of the referees and umpires who now fall back on technology to cover their lapses and are raised to a pedestal where their frailties cannot be questioned. Why not? They are professionals, they opted for the task and they get paid. They are truly no different from managers, coaches and players.

    If you can fine the owner of a team for throwing a tantrum, why not the guys who are running the show? The same yardstick should be applied to them and their fees docked for boo-boos that often enough wreck a game.

    Ask the Scottish Rugby team how it feels about ref Craig Joubert’s last-minute error awarding an undeserved game-winning penalty to Australia in the World Cup quarters. No wonder he is in hiding.

    Levying fines is also an accountant’s dream. It is pretty much a business ‘perk’ in sport and at the top level, it goes into millions of dollars and earns stakeholders a profit. So, if we were told that an association has a target and it must save a certain amount from the allocation of outgoings every season, we have to accept that achieving the quota calls for an arbitrary approach.

    You can encourage violence so that it translates into a brawl and the ones who get most carried away get penalised. You can push buttons and use threats as an official to keep players malleable and docile with the treat of fines.

    You can nitpick over logos, caps, dress code, language, temper tantrums and since the conduct of players, coaches and managers is open to interpretation it’s a decent whack of money that is saved.

    Kobe Bryant was hit for $100,000 because he came off court and in a sweaty rage called an official a sexual deviate. There is also a sneaky feeling that the full fine that is announced to the public to maintain the charade of disciplinary action is not really paid.

    Players can go to court, of course, and file a complaint but for obvious reasons they don’t do that…it is not worth the hassle. They invariably have a slippery clever PR apology volleyed to the media and are suitably contrite.

    Tennis is a great place for fines. Serena still holds the record for a $82,500 hit after she lost it against a line judge in the 2009 US Open semis when her verbal onslaught on court went viral.

    Way back in 1987, John McEnroe coughed up $17,500 for profanity and arguing calls during a Forest Hills match with Slobodan Zivojinovic. McEnroe was also suspended for two months from the circuit.

    It doesn’t matter what the sport is, the decision to relieve a player of his money is decided by a kangaroo court. They go through the motions of hearing out those charged and then throw the book or a few of its pages at them.

    There is a flexible yardstick for calculating how much. And these are the same people who want to hone the killer instinct, build up the stakes to a screaming pitch and provoke all those upon whom they can later impose a fine. Win-win all the way.

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