Kane Johnson's costly critique
04 May 2007 Herald-Sun
Damian Barrett
BY APPROACHING the umpires at halftime during the match on Saturday and then criticising them for a lopsided free-kick count, Richmond captain Kane Johnson gave the AFL two reasons to take action against his club.
Last night it provided 10,000 reasons not to do it again.
The AFL fined the Tigers $5000 for the approach to umpires and another $5000 for the press conference criticism.
The penalty was mitigated when $2500 of the umpire-approach fine was suspended for three years.
Richmond football director Greg Miller said the Tigers would cop the fine, but said it was harsh.
"We think it is a bit excessive, but what can we do?" Miller said. "Not much. We won't be appealing."
Miller queried the magnitude of the fine in light of football's recent controversial off-field problems.
"Given Kane's record and the way other things are happening in the footy world at the moment, it's probably a bit surprising to most people, wouldn't you think?" Miller said.
"Kane has an outstanding record, he is not an antagonist, he does the right thing . . . 10 grand is up there."
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,21668447%255E19742,00.htmlThe AFL has ordered Richmond to pay the fine, and the Tigers are prevented from appealing against the decision.
AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said in a statement that the league needed to set a positive example about how players treat umpires.
He added that abuse and misconduct towards umpires had a negative impact on recruiting and retaining umpires.
AFL umpires' manager Jeff Gieschen has strongly defended the performance of Wenn, Ryan and Pannell.
However, Pannell has been dropped to an emergency for Saturday's Essendon-Hawthorn game at the MCG.
http://realfooty.com.au/news/news/johnson-fined-for-umpire-criticism/2007/05/03/1177788305015.html