HOOPLA: White charge and fine ridiculous

The charge and suspension of Kevin White following the Hawks win over Adelaide last week is a case in point. White’s foul on 36rs big-man Eric Jacobsen was a hard foul. That was the point. White knew it, Jacobsen knew it, anyone watching knew it.

It seems the only ones who didn’t were the on-court officials who did not blow a foul. Had they done so, it’s highly unlikely White would have been charged at all given the NBL’s handling of other incidents this season.

In round five Sydney centre Aleks Maric grabbed Cairns forward Mark Worthington in a headlock and marched him off the court during a scuffle. It was surely a more serious conduct breach than the “unduly rough play” charge leveled at White.

However, in their review of the incident, the GRP determined Maric was “correctly penalised by the referees” and as such the incident did not “warrant any further sanction.”

So in short, the on-court officials failure to call an obvious foul in last Saturday’s game, ultimately cost White the $1000 he was forced to pay as guilty-plea fine in order to play against Cairns last Friday.

Some might think it’s not much of a fine but, imports aside, NBL regulars aren’t on wages anywhere near that of NRL or AFL or A-League players. 

There’s no doubt that a match review penalty system that includes fines to avoid players sitting out matches for minor offences is the right one – the NRL announced last week they are adopting that system given the farce their judiciary process turned into in 2016 – but the onus should still be on the game-day officials and GRP to get it right.

When they don’t it shouldn’t be the players and clubs who literally pay for it.