http://www.harness.org.au/news-artic...?news_id=20374
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Don't know what the bloke said in this instance so I can't comment on the rights & wrongs of that HOWEVER...
In and of itself Rule 248 is something that Harness Racing should be deeply ashamed of.
It is an abhorent gag order on free speech & if it were challenged outside the confines of the Industry it would not stand up in any Court of Law anywhere in the land. The now defunct utter shambles that was the GHRRA tried to pull that one on a couple of people who were highly critical of their operations & were duly stopped in their tracks when the totally unconstitutional nature of Rule 248 was highlighted to them.
As VVV has alluded to, without knowing the substance of the comments posted, it is impossible to draw any conclusions in regard to the fine and the stewards report offers no insight as to the comments that the committee has taken offence too. So I will leave that alone as well, suffice to say that it required remorse on his part and he has promised to be a good boy for while. If he had a problem with the Redcliffe club he should have gone through the correct channels to air his grievance.
In saying all of that, free speech in this country is suffering death by a thousand cuts as a growing number of small minded self-interest groups across a myriad of issues, topics, agendas and in general politically correctness have gone out of control. If you say something they don't like you will get zapped before you can fart...instilling the fear of God into those amongst who are forthright enough to state a case against the stupid decisions we are dealt every day.
However one can only hope that the action taken reflects the serious manner it has been dealt. It would be a thin skinned club indeed if it could not tolerate some critical comments placed on Facebook, so often used by its members to raise issues within the group of friends the users have, and at times to let off a bit of angst.
As Josh Dugan (recently sacked Canberra fullback) recently stated on social media before he was about to ink a multi-million dollar deal with the Broncos "there are two sides to every story", he then proceeded to go on an Instagram rant against some of his critics and he franked what he had originally denied was his true character. Brisbane dodged a bullet and immediately shredded his impending contract. There are some things that are acceptable on social media and Josh's comments clearly did not fit that criteria.
Wonder what got under the collar of the Redcliffe committee to warrant such action?