Making a Grand Final out of a Pre-Season match

2004 AFL incident #70 (#69 being the Saint's debacle)
Anyone Australians reading this (as if) would certainly know about the whole James Hird and Scott McLaren debacle. It's been EVERYWHERE. On the front pages of newspapers, top stories in the news, and on The Footy Show promos ('Tackling the big issues'...or along the lines of that quote).

For those of you who don't know (I'm not going to point the finger at anyone), after James Hird said on The Footy Show that the umpiring of Scott McLaren during a Round 2 AFL match was "disgraceful". The next day (or the day after), this incident blew up into a media frenzy. That very long weekend (it was Easter at the time), Hird made an apology during a press conference. Despite this public apology, there were still talks about suspension, fines, and other things. During the week, Hird was made to pay a $20,000 fine (with Essondon to pay an additional $5,000 fine), to make another public apology on The Footy Show, and he has agreed to help the cause of umpiring for the next few years. Last, but not least, he had to shake hands with McLaren during tonight's (Friday night) match.

I may be a simple person with a crappy blog, but it seems that all this is, I dunno, a bit over the top for a simple comment on the umpiring of McLaren. Okay, so a fine is acceptable, and a handshake between the two parties is simple yet effective,but a second public apology, a fine of such proportions, an additional fine to Hird's club, and THREE YEARS OF (what is essentially) PUBLIC SERVICE (to the umpires)?
This all seems to be alot of brew-ha-ha to avoid a slander suit, and I don't think that that's even out of the question. (I apologize if there's no longer any prospects of a slander case - please don't sue me).
I'm sure that these men in white (now bright orange, red, yellow, etc.) receive much worse chunks of abuse and accusations of "disgraceful" umpiring - but with much more colourful language and spit hitting the umpire's back of neck - every single match from pissed (both of the 'angry' and 'drunk' variety) fans, even if their decisions are clearly right. And with new technology and a crapload more microphones around the ground, some of said comments would certainly be televised, albeit extremely faintly. But these comments just bounce off them like a football, so to speak. They have the same effect as what Hird said that night, but why isn't there a big, massive crackdown on crowd behaviour against umpires?
Despite the fact that he is more famous than these people, is an actual AFL player unlike these people, sober unlike some of these people, and earns much more than these people, Hird is essentially like these people: Human. And humans tend to get all emotional on these issues. So let's cut down on the punishment and humiliation that he has to face, just slap him with a sub-$10,000 fine and maybe a one-week suspension, forget defamation claims (after all, slander occurs ALL the time, especially at atmospheric footy matches), and just play some Aussie Rules Football.

The Obligatory Introduction

"What kind of crap intro was that?"
If you've somehow stumbled onto this web log (or blog for those "in the know"), prepare to be bombarded every fortnight or so (depending on what I can push out) with opinions on The Issues, views on various things, and other jazz which MIGHT manage to drous-ify you in a dimly lit room.
If you want to comment on any entry, don't hesitate to e-mail me.

Enjoy...