FIFA has to be kidding with this one. From the story below you will learn that both the Spain and Dutch federations were fined for their teams deplorable conduct during the World Cup final last month. For this however the Spanish were fined about $10,000 and the Dutch about $14,500. Not each player mind you, that's the whole nut for each team. In the case of Spain, this represents about .03% of their winnings going toward this fine. In the case of the Dutch, this is doubled at a whopping .06% of their winnings.
Now theoretically such a fine is for punitive reasons, right? This is what fines are for to punish the individuals involved to keep bad behavior from repeating itself. Is this FIFA's attempt to punish these federations for bad behavior during a World Cup Final? Lets say in the case of Spain, it was $10K for everyone on the team, including managers and staff. What's that 50 people? Okay, now we are talking about $500,000, which is still small potatoes relative to what is at stake.
Does FIFA really think players are deterred by this in a World Cup setting? While this may be real money for some organizations in many situations, I would opine, it is not here. FIFA's disciplinary code entails when at least (5) players are "sanctioned" in a match, a fine is levied. I would suggest to really make it count, charge a national federation $1M on "sanction" #6, and everyone thereafter. Now we're talking! Even better, give the fines to the FIFA referee program for the training of current and future referees!
For a punitive measure to work, it has to sting a bit. Fining a national association $10,000 in the face of their $30,000,000 winnings is meaningless and does nothing to deter future behavior of the type.
FIFA should do better ... for the good of the game.
ZURICH -- The Netherlands and Spain have been fined by FIFA for their players' lack of discipline in a bad-tempered World Cup final.
FIFA said Tuesday the Dutch federation must pay $14,480 after eight different players received yellow cards, including defender John Heitinga, who was booked a second time and sent off.
English referee Howard Webb showed five yellow cards to Spain, earning its federation a $9,650 fine. ...
Full story continues here, courtesy of ESPN.com.
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