Originally Posted by jefnvk

They fined him because right or wrong, at the end of the day you can't have pro athletes battering fans, and you can't have race organizers looking like they condone the activity. If TdF the organization truly cared about his actions, he'd have been looking at a more substantial punishment than a 200 Franc ($203) fine.



Yep. When I started spectating American rallies, you could still sit wherever along the course you wanted, the expectation was when the 000 (maybe singel zero, can't remember which is the slow first car) came through at its scouting pace, you were smart enough to know that the course was open and to remain off the road. Sadly, that didn't last long from the beginning of my viewing days, and now the rules have spectators contained in a few viewing areas behind fences with marshals watching them, and technically a rule that if a spectator is seen outside the predefined viewing areas, the stage can be cancelled in the name of safety. Not practical with the distances involved with bike racing I suspect, though.



I dunno about the NFL, but I do know that soccer players have been red-carded for tackling pitch invaders.