John Cartwright fined $10,000 for approaching match officials
September 14, 2009 Gold Coast coach John Cartwright has been fined $10,000 by the NRL for approaching match officials at half-time of Saturday night's qualifying final loss to Brisbane.
While Cartwright slammed the refereeing as "disgraceful" in his post-match media conference and claimed they cost his side a chance at victory, it was his physical presence at half-time that concerned the NRL.
NRL rules state that under no circumstances are match officials to be approached, questioned, or harassed in any way by club officials either during or after a match.
"Coaches have ample opportunity to give reasonable opinions on refereeing decisions to the media and, in the days following, to the referees' coaching staff but it is unacceptable for them to approach the referee at the game," said NRL chief executive David Gallop.
The rules governing this have been in place for a considerable time and all coaches are aware of them.
"The NRL has taken no action over comments made in the post-match press conference."
The Titans have five days to respond to the breach notice.
It is Cartwright's second such offence, he was fined $5,000 for a approaching a video referee at Brookvale Oval in his debut coaching season of 2007
AAP
