Should clubs be fined for their players' high tackles/red cards?
I've read this in a couple of opinion pieces recently, and I think it has some merit. That round of European games drove home for me that the current sanctions are *not* working well enough, because there were
five red cards in eight games, and multiple other yellow cards for head-high tackles/collisions.
Red Cards in second fixture of the Round of 16
Racing vs Stade - Sefa Naivalu [Stade]
Ulster vs Toulouse - Tom O'Toole [Ulster]
Leicester vs Clermont - Ollie Chessum [Leicester]
La Rochelle vs Bordeaux - Maama Vaipulu [Bordeaux]
Bristol vs Sale - Aaron Reed [Sale]
My feeling on this matter [and on a lot of other issues] is that there is no single solution, no silver bullet – you have to think about how you can take a bite out of the problem from different angles at the same time.
I think the red card element of it is almost maxed out, so the next angle to attack from is post-match sanctioning of the player. There is a framework, but [in my opinion] the habit of reducing sanctions in practically every case has proved ineffective. The recent case of Brive's Axel Muller stands out for me
[Axel Muller Red Card:
https://twitter.com/Murray_Kinsella/sta ... 9472996355 ] – awarded a ten week suspension, which to me is legitimate ... and then halved to five weeks?
Every high tackle is different, so it's obvious that there has to be different sanctions for different tackles. But this constant easing of sanctions, in practically every single case, does not provide enough deterrent. The
'coaching intervention programme' should be mandatory – it shouldn't get you a week off.
'Good conduct in the hearing' should be mandatory, it shouldn't get you a week off. You shouldn't get time off for there being
'no aggravating factors', you should get
additional time if there are aggravating factors.
Accepting blame
when there is multiple camera angle footage of the incident – I can see some merit in rewarding a player for self-reflection, but it's not as though they are coming before the sanctioning body due to their own conscience, for an act of foul play of which no-one was aware.
That element of sanctioning needs to hold more closely to its guidelines and stop being so wishy-washy.
The idea of a financial sanction is another arrow in the quiver. It's another angle from which to attack the problem. Not every red card would deserve a financial sanction, but I think that an additional sanction should certainly be considered. How it is calculated is certainly worth discussion – a flat figure? A percentage or per mille figure on the gate for the match?
EDIT: *missed a pretty important word there*!