NFL penalises champion Patriots and Brady

The National Football League sent a strong signal on Monday that the ends do not justify the means in US sports, punishing the reigning champions New England Patriots and their star quarterback Tom Brady for bending the rules of the game.

The scandal - known as "deflategate" - involved accusations that balls used by the Patriots were not inflated to the minimum pressure, making them easier to throw and to catch. Under NFL rules, teams have control over the balls that they use while playing on offence.

On Monday, the league said it would suspend Brady for four games of the upcoming regular season - a quarter of the total - for his alleged role in the affair. The Patriots, it said, would pay a $1m fine and lose their first-round pick in the 2016 draft of collegiate players and their fourth-round selection in 2017.

The sanctions came after a series of scandals in the NFL last year involving players accused of domestic violence. The league's commissioner, Roger Goodell, faced criticism that he handed out excessively lenient punishments in such cases of off-the-field violence.

"Deflategate" involved accusations of on-the-field malfeasance, and a 243-page report by league attorney Ted Wells found last week that Patriots employees deliberately deflated footballs used in the club's American Football Conference championship game against the Indianapolis Colts in January.

The report concluded that it was "more probable than not" that Brady - one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the sport and the husband of fashion model Gisele Bundchen - knew of the plans to reduce the pressure of the footballs below the league minimum of 12.5 pounds per square inch.

New England defeated Indianapolis 45-7 in the AFC championship game, during which the deflated balls were discovered. With controversy swirling around Brady, the Patriots went on to beat the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 in the Super Bowl. The game was the most watched broadcast in US history, with 114.4m viewers.

The victory gave the Patriots their fourth NFL championship in the last 14 years, making them one of the most successful franchises in the most popular of US sports.

But the sanctions reinforce the team's reputation for bending the rules of US football.In 2007, the NFL stripped the Patriots of a first-round draft pick and fined the club and its head coach, Bill Belichick, a combined $750,000 for violating league rules on videotaping the signals of opposing teams.

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