Players face shirt swap fine

By Martin Emmerson
BBC Radio Newcastle sports reporter

Former Sunderland player Kevin Ball is in charge of fines

Players at a cash-strapped football club are being fined £200 if they swap shirts with opposing teams.

The financial penalty is one of a gauntlet of fines facing squad members at Sunderland AFC - newly relegated from the Premiership.

The Division One side, which has debts of £37m, has sold about 20 players in an effort to ease its financial burden.

But the latest ploy is a system of charges for varying misdemeanours.

They include £200, for swapping a first team shirt, £50 for using a mobile phone in the dressing room and a £25 levy for not wearing flip-flops in the shower.

The fines have to be paid within a week or they are doubled.

They are managed by former Sunderland player-turned coach, Kevin Ball, who has placed reminders on the dressing room walls for those who forget.

'Hefty fines'

Midfielder Matt Piper has already been hit in the pocket.

He said: "Kevin Ball is the man who looks after all of the fines. He is known as the policeman in and around the training ground.

"There have been a few hefty fines handed out recently, so everyone has to be on their guard.

"I had to pay £25 for not wearing flip-flops in the shower.

"We are not allowed to give any shirts away after any kind of game or keep them for ourselves. That is a £200 fine. So my shirt is staying on my back."

The club's centre forward Marcus Stewart added: "The money goes back to the players for the Christmas night out or other end of season thing, whatever the lads want to use it for really.

"There are a number of things you are not allowed to do, like using mobiles in the dressing room. If you are late for training or late for a game you get fined."