Luton and Sunderland fined for on-pitch confrontation after match
Luton Town and Sunderland have been fined for their parts in an on-pitch confrontation after a Championship match.
The Hatters have been fined £15,000 by the FA, while the side from the North East received a £7,000 fine for their part in the confrontation after the final whistle of a meeting at Kenilworth Road on October 23rd.
In a statement confirming the sanction, the FA said that, “Both clubs admitted that they failed to ensure their players and/or technical area staff didn’t behave in an improper and provocative way after the final whistle.”
The confrontation broke out after the final whistle of the match, which Sunderland won 2-1. Shortly before the game finished, Luton had made strong appeals for a penalty that were declined by the on-pitch referee.
When the whistle was blown, the spark of the confrontation was started by an argument between Luton Town goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski and Sunderland player Chris Mepham, which was quickly followed by players of both sides piling in.
It has since been confirmed that Luton’s Carlton Morris and Joe Taylor were booked for their part in the incident, as were Sunderland’s Luke O’Nien and Jobe Bellingham.
Fines were imposed as the penalty following a disciplinary hearing late last month, although the FA ruled it did not come towards the more severe end of the scale.
The Hatters went into the international break having been embarrassingly thumped 5-1 at Middlesbrough, suffering what was a fourth successive reverse of the campaign, with defeats to Plymouth Argyle, Sheffield United and Coventry City. Prior to the trip, it had looked like Town were just starting to get on an even keel, with their form in Bedfordshire improving, having drawn with West Bromwich Albion and then beaten Cardiff City 1-0, making it three victories from their last six outings at home, drawing the other two.
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