MISL Fines Tacoma Player for Incident With Sockers

Ralph Black, a Tacoma Star midfielder, was fined $350 by the Major Indoor Soccer League for elbowing Socker defender Waad Hirmez in the face in the closing seconds of the Sockers’ 6-2 victory Saturday.

Ron Cady, Socker president, sent a videotape of the game to the league for review Monday. On Thursday, he received a letter from James Budish, MISL director of operations, with the league’s rulings on three protests.

The Sockers protested Tacoma defender Bernie James’ obscene gesture to the crowd at the San Diego Sports Arena after Saturday’s game, but no action was taken against him.

The explanation in the letter read: “The videotape shows a fan threw an object at Bernie, following which Bernie motioned with his hand. Based on the videotape provided, it is not possible to determine if Bernie (made an obscene gesture).”

A yellow card for dangerous play, which was given to Branko Segota in the same game, was upheld. Budish explained that Segota did not make an effort to play the ball, and his action could have resulted in an injury to Tacoma defender Neil Megson.