AFL Commission chairman defends league amid accusations of double standards over defamation punishments

AFL Commission chairman Richard Goyder has defended the league’s decision to suspend Jeremy Finlayson for uttering a homophobic slur after allowing Alastair Clarkson to continue coaching following a similar incident.

Port Adelaide forward Finlayson was suspended last week for three matches for comments directed at an Essendon player during the teams’ clash at Adelaide Oval on April 5.

In March, North Melbourne coach Clarkson was fined $20,000 and suspended for two matches for a similar insult hurled at St Kilda pair Dougal Howard and Jimmy Webster during a trial match.

The discrepancy between sanctions has come under heavy criticism, particularly from the AFL Players’ Association (AFLPA), which last week accused the league of applying double standards.

But Goyder took a different view.

“I don’t think there’s a difference in the sense that the AFL has taken a very firm stance on that issue, and that stance is the most important thing,” Goyder told reporters on Monday.

“We will see the shame… I hope this never happens again.

“If this happens again, we will consider a sanction appropriate to the circumstances.

“Both penalties were a very strong signal from the AFL that there is no place in our game for that type of action.”

Last week, Port Adelaide president David Koch said he hoped the league would “apply consistency to these types of cases in the future”, while AFLPA chief Paul Marsh called for an “urgent review of the framework of AFL sanctions.