One of American Football’s greatest quarterbacks has been handed a four-match suspension for his part in a scandal involving under-inflated balls.
Tom Brady, who plays for the New England Patriots and is married to supermodel Gisele Bundchen, was suspended without pay by the National Football League, and his team was fined $1 million (£642,000) for deflating footballs used in an important match.
The NFL also indefinitely suspended two members of staff who are believed to have carried out the plan to tamper with the balls, including one who apparently called himself “The Deflator”.
The NFL said the club was sanctioned after failure to co-operate in the investigation into “Deflategate”.
It was launched following claims the Patriots had deflated match balls to gain an advantage in January’s 45-7 play-off victory over Indianapolis Colts in Boston, which sent them to the Super Bowl, which they won.
According to reports, 11 of the 12 match balls they provided for the game were under-inflated by about two pounds per square inch, giving Brady more grip in cold and wet conditions.
The independent Wells Report ruled Brady was “at least generally aware of inappropriate activities”.
In a statement, Patriots chairman and CEO Robert Kraft criticised the investigation and said Brady had the team’s “unconditional support”.
He added: “Despite our conviction that there was no tampering with footballs, it was our intention to accept any discipline levied by the league. Today’s punishment, however, far exceeded any reasonable expectation. It was based completely on circumstantial rather than hard or conclusive evidence.”
Brady’s agent Don Yee said the player would appeal against the suspension in the next three days, adding: “The discipline is ridiculous and has no legitimate basis.”
Brady, 37, who has won the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award three times, has repeatedly stated that he did not know about the efforts to deflate match balls, but the report said those claims were “not plausible and contradicted by other evidence”.
The Patriots will also forfeit a 2016 first-round draft pick after “violating the NFL policy on the integrity of the game”.
