7 Mar 2012

New Orleans officials take blame for bounty system

6:54 pm on 7 March 2012

The coach and general manager of the American football side the New Orleans Saints have taken full responsibility for the team's bounty programme to injure opponents.

Sean Payton and Mickey Loomis have both confessed to having knowledge of the bounties which rewarded players with thousands of dollars if they incapacitated their opponents.

The pair say they take responsibility for the violations which were discovered by an NFL investigation and say it won't happen again.

The NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who's already trying to improve the league's image with a series of lawsuits pending from former players over concussion injuries, could impose hefty fines, bans and forfeiture of draft picks on the club.