Virgil van Dijk was fined £100,000 for “abusive and insulting” phrases after his crimson card at Newcastle, which is likely one of the FA’s worst-ever fines.
Van Dijk was dismissed for a last-man problem on Alexander Isak in Liverpool’s eventual 2-1 win at St James’ Park, however refused to depart the pitch.
The Liverpool captain remonstrated with referee John Brooks, telling him his resolution was a “fucking joke,” earlier than an incident involving fourth official Craig Pawson as he headed down the tunnel.
Friday introduced the information that, following an investigation by an impartial regulatory fee, the FA had banned Van Dijk for a further sport and fined him £100,000.
Remarkably, that £100,000 superb is likely one of the worst ever issued to a participant within the historical past of the Premier League.
There are few situations during which a participant has been fined extra, a kind of being John Terry’s £220,000 superb after being discovered responsible of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand on the pitch throughout a match between Chelsea and QPR in 2011.
One other got here with Roy Keane fined £150,000 for admitting to purposely injuring Alf-Inge Haaland in a Manchester derby in 2001.
Each events noticed bans issued for longer than Van Dijk’s – Terry for 4 video games, Keane for 5 – however there have been few different six-figure fines for gamers.
In April of this yr, Aleksandar Mitrovic was banned for eight video games and fined £75,000 for pushing referee Chris Kavanagh and utilizing “improper, abusive, insulting and threatening” language throughout Fulham‘s FA Cup loss to Man United.
Additional again, Joey Barton obtained a 12-game ban and £75,000 for an notorious crimson card in QPR’s 3-2 defeat to Man Metropolis in 2012.
Barton elbowed Carlos Tevez within the face, incomes his crimson card, earlier than kneeing Sergio Aguero and trying to headbutt Vincent Kompany, issuing abuse in direction of referee Mike Dean as he ultimately left the sector.
In 2014, then-Newcastle supervisor Alan Pardew was fined £60,000 for headbutting Hull participant David Meyler, in addition to a seven-game touchline ban.
Extra worryingly, historic situations of racist abuse from gamers or followers have usually seen fines decrease than that imposed on Van Dijk.
Luis Suarez was fined £40,000 for racially abusing Patrice Evra in 2011 and Leeds goalkeeper Kiko Castilla was fined £60,000 for comparable abuse of Charlton’s Jonathan Leko in 2020.
In 2019, Millwall have been fined £10,000 for his or her supporters’ racist chants in a conflict with Everton, whereas in August of this yr, Carlisle have been £7,500 for racist chants of their assembly with Bradford.
Van Dijk’s superb is within the ballpark of these obtained by Wolves (£100,000) and Leeds (£150,000) for a number of situations of homophobic chanting throughout respective conferences with Chelsea and Brighton final season.
Jurgen Klopp has been fined a number of occasions by the FA, together with £30,000 for shouting within the face of linesman Gary Beswick in final season’s 1-0 win over Man Metropolis, for which he was despatched off.
Klopp was additionally fined £8,000 for celebrating on the pitch after Divock Origi‘s late winner in opposition to Everton in 2018, and twice for solutions of bias from referees.
A £45,000 superb got here for feedback concerning Kevin Pal in 2019 and £75,000 for his claims over Paul Tierney in Could of this yr.
It begs the query of why Van Dijk was fined such a big quantity, with it seemingly an arbitrary resolution from the powers that be.
Maybe the one rationalization can be if fines are issued relative to a participant’s wages, with the Dutchman believed to earn upwards of £200,000 every week at Liverpool.
After all, it also needs to be famous that the cash inside soccer, and its worth itself, has modified drastically through the years.
However within the context of violent, racist and homophobic situations prior to now, the choice to superb one participant £100,000 for feedback made by gamers each Premier League weekend appears a baffling one.
