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Sports letter: Peterborough League punishment does not fit the crime
I FELT I had to write regarding the article in the Evening Telegraph on Saturday (Jan 21) about the fines dished out by the Peterborough & District Football League.
There are a few points I would like to raise on this matter. The football clubs in this league are not professional and are purely run by people who love football.
These clubs all need managers and all need people who are willing to fill other roles. These people do not get paid for their efforts so why on earth should anybody want to do these tasks when you’re more worried about costing your own club money for the slightest mistake you make.
If you look at the amount clubs are being fined for some of the mistakes it borders on the obscene.
Let me take up the point where clubs are being fined £10 for not ticking the ‘Respect’ box. The referee (in most cases) will ask who the captain is and can see if he is wearing the respect armband or not, so please could the league explain to me what relevance there is in ticking or not ticking the said box?
Should it carry a £10 fine? I think not.
There is another offence stated where one club has been fined £20 for not providing four match-balls. Well unless I have lost the plot completely, in my day, I always thought a match was played with one ball.
Is that offence worthy of a £20 fine? Again I think not.
I could go on and on regarding the league’s need to fine teams and the offences they are being fined for, but I would need more than this letter to explain how I feel.
The biggest point to all of this is that the punishment does not fit the crime.
I note that following a vote things will change next season and the league will be using a system that will mainly involve using a computer and will take away the risk of many fines being imposed.
But being the sceptic that I am, I’m sure fines will still be imposed. Maybe if this letter is printed I can look foward to being charged with bringing the game into disrepute . . . or being fined for any spelling mistakes.
I would like to add these are my own comments and not those of Woodston Football Club with whom I am associated.
Phil Marchant
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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Comments
There are 2 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
wistowbased
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 12:13 PMTotally agree, fining people and clubs for such things in todays climate will only drive them away from the game, Wayne Rooney can kick a man from behind on live TV and the FA get behind him to appeal his ban, but if the likes of me or you do that then the book is thrown at you by the same FA and they want a weeks wage or more from you in the process, is that right or fair? I think not.
pottyborough
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 11:01 AMPhil you are spot on. Add to the reasons you have given, the length of suspensions and fines issued to individual players is an issue that in the current financial climate is putting people off from playing. Those players receive longer suspensions than those in the professional game and the associated fines can bite in to the family budgets, so people are chosing not to play. Peterborough & Northants FA seriously need to ask themsleves the following question. Do they want football to continue in Peterborough. If the answer is yes then start doing away with the ridiculous fines they dish out
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