[BlackCountryBob]

So Chelsea have been fined £85,000 and Drogba and Bosingwa have been banned for 4 and 3 matches respectively for their admittedly disgraceful behaviour towards the referee during their match with Barca.

Thats all well and good and I do agree that a punishment was deserved but when placed in contrast to fines placed upon clubs and national bodies for the racist behaviour and rioting of fans it seems grossly out of proportion and shows how UEFA does not take this awful and shameful behaviour seriously.

- Atletico Madrid were after the fine was reduced several times played one game behind closed doors and were fined £65,000 for racist chanting and violence from fans when playing Marseille.

- Croatia were fined just £10,000 for displaying racist banners during a match with Turkey.

- In 2007, Anderlecht were fined just £13,000 when fans threw missiles including a metal bar and a ligher at Spurs players during a game.

- FK Zeta of Montenegro were fined just £9k for chanting racist insults at 2 Rangers players and throwing objects from the crowd at the players. To make it worse, 1/3 of it is deferred for 2 years and only payable if their fans do the same again.

All these behaviours were abhorrent and worthy of considerably bigger penalties. What message does it send when players mistreating the referee is given a punishment 10x that of a team whose fans threw objects and chanted racist slogans. Surely if Chelsea were deserving of this size fine then all these teams should have had at least the same punishment levied; it is the only way I can see to force clubs and fans to change their behaviour.

[sdb123]

And who can forget Spain's paltry £44,000 fine after the barrage of racist abuse in the game against England in 2004.

[ed_mcl]

Perhaps the difference being that the clubs failed to control the fans, whereas in the Chelsea case it was a matter of not being able to control their players.

[ps3mad]

Its UEFA they hate Chelsea.The worse thing is the ref got away with no punishment after that disgracefull game he had.I think Drogba was right what he said.

[y2k]

Drogba done what he done in the semi final of the champions league, how much did Chelsea make from that? Chelsea have the money to pay them sort of fines and im sure the fines the other teams got had a bigger impact on them than the £85k does on Chelseas finances.

[ed_mcl]

Originally Posted by ps3mad

Its UEFA they hate Chelsea.The worse thing is the ref got away with no punishment after that disgracefull game he had.I think Drogba was right what he said.

If UEFA hated Chelsea I think they'd have dished out a more severe punishment and would have included action against Ballack too.

[sdb123]

Originally Posted by y2k

Drogba done what he done in the semi final of the champions league, how much did Chelsea make from that? Chelsea have the money to pay them sort of fines and im sure the fines the other teams got had a bigger impact on them than the £85k does on Chelseas finances.

Stop with the Chelsea bashing for a second...

I don't believe any fine against a football club/nation has an impact (as the numerous examples posted above show). The governing bodies for football need to look at other forms of punishment IMHO.

[y2k]

Originally Posted by sdb123

Stop with the Chelsea bashing for a second...

I don't believe any fine against a football club/nation has an impact (as the numerous examples posted above show). The governing bodies for football need to look at other forms of punishment IMHO.

I was not Chelsea bashing , I would say the same thing if this had happened to Man UTD or Liverpool, the fact is that teams like Anderlecht and FK Zeta (who ) cannot afford to pay the same sort of money that premier league teams can, and as I already said this happened in the semi final of the champions league so millions more people seen what happened so the punishment should be greater on the players.

[Naaktgeboren]

Originally Posted by ed_mcl

If UEFA hated Chelsea I think they'd have dished out a more severe punishment and would have included action against Ballack too.

Apparently, Ballack provided video evidence that he was not in fact harassing the ref, he was simply alerting the ref to the fact that a large wasp was hovering over his head

[RMCF]

Originally Posted by sdb123

Stop with the Chelsea bashing for a second...

I don't believe any fine against a football club/nation has an impact (as the numerous examples posted above show). The governing bodies for football need to look at other forms of punishment IMHO.

Couldnt agree more.

For years I have been saying that fines to big football clubs is like slapping the ass of an elephant. It serves no purpose and doesn't affect the club at all.

Now imagine how much this would hurt Chelsea if the punishment had of been the 2 players missing those matches AND them starting their CL group stage at -1 or -2pts.

That would soon put an end to the bad behaviour of the clubs.

[nextmans]

Originally Posted by sdb123

Stop with the Chelsea bashing for a second...

I don't believe any fine against a football club/nation has an impact (as the numerous examples posted above show). The governing bodies for football need to look at other forms of punishment IMHO.

I believe banning drogba and boswinga for the group stage is an alternative form of punishment...as already stated...the fines will not affecting a club of chelsea's stature...its just a way for UEFA to make money from the situation...but banning players for 6 matches seems fair enough for me...also as someone also suggested maybe giving them a points deficit before the CL starts might have been a good addition...or even making them qualify for the CL...now that its an unseeded qualification stage...

[nextmans]

Originally Posted by BlackCountryBob

- Atletico Madrid were after the fine was reduced several times played one game behind closed doors and were fined £65,000 for racist chanting and violence from fans when playing Marseille.

...

Surely if Chelsea were deserving of this size fine then all these teams should have had at least the same punishment levied; it is the only way I can see to force clubs and fans to change their behaviour.

Playing games behind closed doors, with very limited media coverage and no gate receipts would have cost Ath Madrid much more then the £85,000 that Chelsea received...in fact even though the two situations are entirely different...Chelsea's fine seems rather poultry compared to the financial hit that Athetico took...

Whilst I understand your grievances...I'd like to point out that fines for racist chanting by the FANS, is not something that a club can generally control...they sell the tickets...the local police are provided by the local authority to enforce the laws...the club, IMO, is not at fault for the chants that are sung by the people they sold the tickets to...as you can't pre-determine what supporters will sing at any given moment...IMO a better form of punishment would be to remove one available slot of qualification into Europe for that country for the following year as well as the fine...punish not only the team but the country...other teams from the same country may put pressure on their own fans to behave at matches so they can earn the spot back again...especially if the qualification slot is given to a neighbouring rival country...

[BlackCountryBob]

Originally Posted by nextmans

Whilst I understand your grievances...I'd like to point out that fines for racist chanting by the FANS, is not something that a club can generally control...they sell the tickets...the local police are provided by the local authority to enforce the laws...the club, IMO, is not at fault for the chants that are sung by the people they sold the tickets to...as you can't pre-determine what supporters will sing at any given moment...

Hasn't the arguement that the club cannot control the fans been used often before to no avail including when clubs have tried to defend themself from punishment for hooliganism?

I wonder what UEFA would be doing if that racist chanting was from British fans in a British stadium. I imagine that fine would be much much larger than any listed above.

[ed_mcl]

Originally Posted by BlackCountryBob

I wonder what UEFA would be doing if that racist chanting was from British fans in a British stadium. I imagine that fine would be much much larger than any listed above.

Yawn...

Are we still playing the hard-done by act and pretending this UEFA conspiracy exists against British football?

Remind us all what UEFA did about the Spurs fans that were found guilty of chanting racist abuse at Sol Campbell, or the Newcastle fans that were guilty of chanting Islamaphobic abuse at Mido.

[BlackCountryBob]

Originally Posted by ed_mcl

Yawn...

Are we still playing the hard-done by act and pretending this UEFA conspiracy exists against British football?

Remind us all what UEFA did about the Spurs fans that were found guilty of chanting racist abuse at Sol Campbell, or the Newcastle fans that were guilty of chanting Islamaphobic abuse at Mido.

No its just a point of contention and hypothesis.

[Fizzoid]

Originally Posted by BlackCountryBob

No its just a point of contention and hypothesis.

Not to mention both were internal matters, so the FA would\should deal with them

[ed_mcl]

Just admit that this pathetic conspiracy some believe UEFA have against British, or should that be English clubs, simply doesn't exist.

You can claim all you want that UEFA would do this, that and the next thing, the fact is if they wanted to punish our clubs wherever possible they'd have followed up the vague accusations of racist chanting against Balotelli and Viera at Old Trafford.