HEY BILL THAT WRIST LOOKS SORE..

ITALY 2006...

The grand old lady of Italian football, Juventus, are found guilty of match fixing.The punishment for which was the stripping of their last two League Championships, and relegation to a lower league where they had to start the following season on minus thirty points, the equivalent of an NFL 0 - 10 start.

ENGLAND 2007...

Leeds United who have already fallen on tough times following relegation from the Premier League to the second tier of English football, slip into financial adminstration, which effectively means they have done a bad job running the club purse strings, and the English Football Association effectively seals their relegation to the third tier of the English leagues when they impose a point deduction of 10 points as administration is against the rules.The following season when the club is seen to be still in contravention of administration guidelines they are given a 15 point deduction to start the year with, the equivalent of an 0 - 5 NFL start.

THE WORLD 2007...

After found to have been spying on their rivals Ferrari, ooh does anyone see the similarity there, the Formula 1 governing body impose a fine on McLaren of $100 million ( that's a one and two noughts and then a load of other noughts), and strips them of all the points that the team has earned through the current season.

The common thread here is that the ruling bodies of each sport has not messed around with sending out a message to the sport it governs, the fans, and the wider public.They are saying that rule breaking or downright cheating is going to be dealt with severely, and those who do it in the future know what to expect.Even when the infraction was away from the field, you are going to get f*@#$d - hard.

U.S.A. 2007...

New England Patriots found to be cheating to gain an advantage on the field, caught red handed, no attempt to deny it, well that would have only made it worse since it was so obvious once the confiscated video tape showed exactly what they were up to.NFL commish Roger Goodell shows that he is prepared to come down hard on any rule breakers or cheats, well unless you are the apple franchise of the NFL's eye that is, and lets face it the sport really needs to concentrate on the scourge that is spiking footballs and celebrating touchdowns using the ball as a prop, now that's important.Well done Rog, you show 'em, the games image is safe in your hands.