Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths with £2,500 fine...

[ian1964 10,720]

...and two game suspended sentence for "Rudi Skacel refugee" chant.

 

THE striker's punishment follows on from his appearance in court over the incident where it was revealed he was fined four weeks wages by Celtic.

 

CELTIC striker Leigh Griffiths has been given a two game suspended sentence by the SFA and fined £2,500 for singing an offensive song about Rudi Skacel.

 

The Scotland hitman made a personal appearance in front of a judicial panel at Hampden today after pleading guilty to the charge at Edinburgh Sheriff Court earlier this month.

 

Griffiths was charged by former SFA compliance officer Vincent Lunny for “not acting in the best interests of association football by singing an offensive song."

 

The SFA decided not to act further on the incident, which dates back to March 2014, until after the case had followed its legal process.

 

Griffiths was captured on images and video, shared on social media, singing the offensive lyrics to the tune of ‘Yellow Submarine’ with Hibs fans outside the Roseburn Bar, near Tynecastle.

 

A large number of Hibs fans had gathered waiting for the opening of the bar before the Edinburgh derby. The court heard the song contained the lyrics that former Hearts rival Skacel was ‘a f*****g refugee’.

 

Griffiths was fined four weeks’ wages by Celtic for his involvement in the incident, but was admonished by Sheriff Scott after admitting his guilt.

 

Griffiths has accepted the sentence from the SFA. The two games are suspended until the end of the season and he will not miss any of his club’s forthcoming fixtures.

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/sfa-hit-celtic-striker-leigh-6539840

[craig 5,199]

2 game suspended sentence for this, yet Aluko got 2 games for simulation (despite it looking like there may have actually been contact, slight though it was). Which is the worse offense ?

 

And I am by no means advocating simulation - but one has to wonder if the football authorities really do wish to stamp out racism in football....

[der Berliner 3,716]

... what did the chaps in England get for racist stuff again? Oh wait, that wasn't in a pub.

[RANGERRAB 3,613]

I presume the main reason the SFA let him off so lightly was because the courts did likewise

[BrahimHemdani 1]

Who gives a sh*t about him.

[Gazza_8 233]

2 game suspended sentence for this, yet Aluko got 2 games for simulation (despite it looking like there may have actually been contact, slight though it was). Which is the worse offense ?

 

And I am by no means advocating simulation - but one has to wonder if the football authorities really do wish to stamp out racism in football....

 

Two totally different scenarios. The glaring difference is that one happened off the park and the other on the park. I'd have guessed that there's different rules and punishments for incidents that happen on and off the field of play.

 

I remember the Aluko incident, he was hard done by but I'd automatically suspend any player seen to be diving for 3 games.

 

As for the Griffiths punishment, it's absolutely sickening but UEFA have set the precedent with their fines to clubs whose fans have made racist remarks or had racist banners.

 

Will the SFA be advised by UEFA when it comes to things like this?

[der Berliner 3,716]

Who gives a sh*t about him.

 

It is all about laws and rules and how they are applied and to whom. Can't - out of my head remember the EPL players who were charged for similar offenses (granted, on the field of play) and rather quickly. Here a player is playing on for 1,5 years and scoring freely ... while getting a 2-game suspended "ban". We had Lafferty's Law, the Looven's incident with Edu (that took 6 months to be solved (one game ban after the summer)), Aluko and various others. Granted, the authorities took action against Tonev, but he wasn't a regular for them anyways at the time. And to top it all off, the Mohsni character assassination, with not a single whisper on the actual instigator (Erwin) thus far.

 

What you'd like to see is even handed application of the rules, no matter who is concerned.

 

On a sidenote, only this week the DR deemed it necessary to have another article on "mad-dog" Mohsni from his Southend (?) days.