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CFL fines Kent Austin, removes him from sideline for one game, but is it enough?

andrew bucholtz
CFL fines Kent Austin, removes him from sideline for one game, but is it enough?

The CFL saw one of the most unusual situations in some time during Saturday's Hamilton-Saskatchewan game, with Hamilton head coach Kent Austin slapping an official's hand while arguing a highly-unusual procedure call against his team. The league's now determined that Austin's actions deserve a $10,000 fine and a removal from the sidelines for the Tiger-Cats' next game, but not a suspension. Here's the statement CFL commissioner Jeffrey Orridge released Wednesday:

Respect for officials is a basic tenet of sport. Their impartial participation makes fair competition possible. And their security is paramount. That is why it is absolutely unacceptable for a coach to confront an official and make contact with him, even if that contact was inadvertent and accidental.

For his behaviour in a sideline incident with an on field official during his team’s game on Saturday, Sept. 24, Hamilton Tiger-Cats vice-president of football operations and head coach Kent Austin will be removed from the sidelines for the Tiger-Cats’ next game, this Saturday, Oct. 1. He will be allowed in the spotters’ booth but he will not have the privilege of joining his team on the field or interacting with officials on the field. Furthermore, Coach Austin is fined $10,000. A penalty of this magnitude levied against a coach for an interaction with an official is unprecedented in our league.

Our examination of this situation did not yield a comparable precedent on which to base a decision. That has highlighted for me the need to develop and announce a clear policy that makes crystal clear that there will be zero tolerance of physical contact with officials, whatever its nature, and immediate and serious penalties should such contact occur. That work is now underway.

Here's video of the Austin incident:

Here's video of Austin's response to questions about the incident at Tuesday's practice:

Austin says there "I had a reaction to the call and it was completely unintentional, completely accidental. Unfortunately, there was slight contact with his fingers and I got penalized for it, we got moved back 15 yards which hurt the football team."

Unintentional or not, though, this is a very serious action, and Orridge's statement about how unprecedented it is indicates that. It's unclear if the league's actual actions back that up, though. Yes, the fine is significant, and removing Austin from the sidelines for a game is a bit of a penalty, but it's interesting that they didn't fully suspend him for a game. Consider that Montreal receiver Duron Carter drew a one-game suspension earlier this year (which was eventually upheld by an arbitrator) for his bump of Ottawa head coach Rick Campbell; shouldn't contact with an official be weighed at least as seriously as contact with an opposing coach? Moreover, this is not the first time Austin's behaviour on the sidelines has bcome under fire: he was fined last year after bumping Argos' receiver Dave Stala.

Sideline bans have happened before, as with Argos' GM Jim Barker in 2014, but that was only for being in the wrong spot and yelling at an official, not making contact with him. Removing Austin from the sideline and fining him $10,000 is not an insignificant punishment, but it's also not one that seems to fully reflect the severity of this. Orridge is right that the league needs to have a policy on incidents like this to ensure consistency in discipline, but this seems like a missed opportunity to start with a severe penalty, and comparison with the Carter incident makes it feel like coaches are being held less accountable for their actions than players. If anything, they should be held more accountable.