AFL Fee chair Richard Goyder has defended the league’s determination to droop Jeremy Finlayson for uttering a homophobic slur after permitting Alastair Clarkson to proceed teaching following an identical incident.
Port Adelaide ahead Finlayson was final week hit with a three-match suspension for feedback directed at an Essendon participant in the course of the groups’ conflict at Adelaide Oval on April 5.
In March, North Melbourne coach Clarkson was fined $20,000 and given a suspended two-match ban for the same slur fired at St Kilda pair Dougal Howard and Jimmy Webster throughout a trial recreation.
The discrepancy between the penalties has been the topic of sturdy criticism, particularly from the AFL Gamers Affiliation (AFLPA), which final week accused the league of double requirements.
However Goyder took a special view.
“I do not assume there is a distinction within the sense that the AFL has taken a really sturdy stance on that problem — and that stance is an important factor,” Goyder instructed reporters on Monday.
“We’ll take a look at the penalty … hopefully this by no means occurs once more.
“If it does occur once more, we’ll take a look at an acceptable penalty beneath the circumstances.
“Each penalties had been a really sturdy sign from the AFL that there is no place in our recreation for these form of actions.”
Final week, Port Adelaide chairman David Koch mentioned he appeared ahead to the league “making use of consistency to such circumstances sooner or later”, whereas AFLPA boss Paul Marsh referred to as for an “pressing evaluate of the AFL’s sanctioning framework”.
“We imagine the AFL is constantly inconsistent and there are double requirements in its strategy to coping with gamers in comparison with others on behavioural issues,” Marsh mentioned.
“This problem highlights the dearth of readability on how the AFL handles these conditions, and we wish this to be the catalyst for an pressing evaluate of the sanctioning framework.
“If this kind of conduct is a three-week sanction for a participant, it needs to be for everybody concerned within the recreation.
“This needs to be clear to everybody within the business upfront, somewhat than the open-ended strategy that’s at present in place.”
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