Yawn. If the FA is going to punish Manchester City for violating it’s finicky doping regulations, then it should really, really punish the club.
On Thursday, the FA fined Manchester City £35,000 for doping violations — what a joke! if England’s governing body of football alleges that City is guilty than it should penalize City like it really believes the club is guilty.
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Let me be clear: It’s not that I want City punished further. For the record, I think there is a unfair amount of vagueness with the FA’s Regulation 14(d) regarding “club whereabouts.” It seems to not allow for the everyday miscommunication that befalls busy people trying to coordinate with several parties at once. Moreover, it raises the question how guilt can be ascertained in these circumstances. Unless the actual evidence presented in the independent regulatory commission hearing becomes public, and it indeed proves City’s fault, three strikes or not, the FA’s regulation seems highly unforgiving about genuine human error. It also seems damn intrusive, a bureaucratic nightmare and nearly impossible to enforce given how The Telegraph describes what Regulation 14(d) mandates.
Putting aside City’s innocence or guilt and my amateur lawyer skills, the real story, however, here is how limp the FA’s punitive actions are. In the age of blockbuster £100 million transfers, £35,000 is paltry. City probably spends more taking care of room and board for one away match. Clearly City’s front office hardly cares about the fine. According to Sky Sports, it won’t comment about the scandal — if it can be called that — and didn’t contest the allegations ahead of the hearing.
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So what’s the deal with what amounts to a pinch on the wrist? If the integrity of the beautiful game is what the FA wants to preserve, then steeper and more severe penalties hardly seem vices. Call me old fashioned, but spare the rod, spoil the club. Enact a punishment that deters City and the rest of the English footballing world from engaging in more violations.
Yet, the FA refrains from it because it doesn’t really care. At a certain point, harsh measures get in the way of profits, which is what every big ruling sports cartel is really about. The FA is no exception. If it hammered City, for example, for its transgressions, made the club suffer for them, one of the marquee sides of the Premier League becomes less competitive and exciting, risking viewership, advertising revenue and the bottom line all in turn. If City goes down, those fat cats can down with it. And the FA can’t have that.
So who really is the naughty one here? City’s failure to communicate certain players’ whereabouts — what basically amount to a clerical error of some intern who forgot to call because Adele was blaring through his headphones all shift? Or the FA who lacks the soccer balls to back up its ethical preening?
Like Fox News, I’ll let you decide.
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