The Penn State University in the United States has been slapped with a fine of $60 million and a four-year playoff ban over a damaging child sex abuse scandal involving a long-serving football coach.
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), governing body for U.S. college sports, President Mark Emmert announced the "corrective and punitive" punishment at a news conference in Indianapolis on Monday. He said the unprecedented and harsh punishment was merited due to leadership failures and a warped team culture revealed by the scandal.
Jerry Sandusky, a former Assistant coach of Penn State, a famous U.S. football school, was found last month guilty of sexually abusing young boys, sometimes on campus. A court found that he abused ten boys over a period of 15 years, preying on boys he met through a charity he founded himself.
"Football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people. The sanctions needed to reflect our goals of providing cultural change," Media reports quoted Emmert as saying.
The NCAA said the fine was equivalent to the annual gross revenue of the Penn State football program. The money is to be given to an endowment fund for external programs to prevent child abuse and help victims.
Penn State president Rodney Erickson said in a statement that he accepted the penalties. The NCAA sanctions would help the school "define our course," he added.
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