North Melbourne coach Brad Scott penalty for umpire attack

NORTH Melbourne coach Brad Scott’s embarrassing umpire’s scandal just got a whole lot worse for his football club and his own wallet.

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott. Picture: Getty

NORTH Melbourne issued another “strong apology” to the AFL before the club and coach Brad Scott was hit with an $80,000 fine for Scott’s baseless accusations of umpire bias.

The club was slapped with a $50,000 fine and Scott a $30,000 penalty for the spray in which the Roos coach claimed the umpires told his players that Thomas would not be awarded free kicks for high contact because “he’s a ducker” after last Friday night’s loss to Hawthorn.

League football operations boss Mark Evans, who met with Scott and North football manager Geoff Walsh today, said the club’s swift response to the incident last Saturday was taken into account when reaching a sanction.

“North Melbourne were very strong in their apology today to reaffirm that they made the wrong call and they were very sorry for that,” Evans said.

“It was a very strong apology and they moved very quickly on Saturday morning and I think the alternative to that would have been a very protracted investigation.”

North Melbourne responded on Twitter it accepted the sanctions but would make no further comment.

Evans said the league doesn’t “have great precedent in these areas” but the sanctions were reached once the severity of the comments and the impact they had were considered.

FANS SURVEY: HAVE YOUR SAY ON THE UMPIRES AND FOOTY’S BIG ISSUES FOR A CHANCE TO WIN 2 AFL GRAND FINAL TICKETS

He admitted a suspension for Scott had been considered.

“We felt that Brad’s comments had gone past just criticism of umpires and we felt they actually went to the integrity of our umpiring staff and our umpires and the AFL itself,” he said.

“We felt there were not just the comments, but actions that maybe the club could have averted this (with).

“It was discussed (a suspension). Since Saturday morning when I spoke to Geoff Walsh and they quickly retracted the comments and issued an apology and that’s been well accepted by our umpires and umpiring staff and that was taken into account.”

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott fronted the media yesterday. Picture: Getty Images

An embarrassed Scott offered his “unreserved apology” on Monday.

“I was given information on the way in to the post-game press conference that I believed to be matter-of-fact, not rumour or innuendo,” Scott said at a press conference on Monday.

Scott was told after the match that an umpire had told players that Thomas would not get head-high free kicks because he “is a ducker”.

“It came from a trusted source and I believed those comments to be matter-of-fact. I was then asked a direct question in the press conference to which I answered openly and honestly. Clearly, 12 hours later, after an investigation by the club, that statement of fact had in fact turned out to be completely incorrect and lacked factual basis.”