Count owner Bob Young among the growing legion of Ticat fans who are fed up with CFL officiating – and it cost him $10,000 to say so.

Young took to the Ticats' online forum on Wednesday morning – where he regularly interacts with fans – to criticize a key offside call in last Saturday's loss to Toronto and that Argonaut general manager Jim Barker was standing directly behind the official who threw the flag.

“The debate here is whether the CFL officiating is good enough to ensure that the outcome of the close games is fair,” Young wrote. “I would argue the CFL officiating is good and getting better, but still not good enough.”

By Wednesday afternoon, the league responded by slapping Young with a $10,000 fine “public comments criticizing CFL officiating.” The league also fined Barker $2,500 for his actions and banned him from the sidelines for the remainder of the 2014 season, including playoffs.

At issue is a fourth quarter offside call against the Ticats which gave Toronto a second chance after Hamilton stopped them on third-and-short near the Ticat goal line. But Hamilton was flagged for offside and the Argos used their second chance to score the winning points in a 26-24 victory.

“The biggest 'controversy' is not so much the call itself, but is the Toronto GM coaching the sideline judge during the play. The result was the official called a very marginal penalty,” Young wrote. “At the very least there should have been two penalties. The other for objectionable conduct to Toronto for their GM's blatant and successful attempt to influence an official on the field.”

Hamilton has been the CFL's most penalized team in 2014, a season that has seen penalty calls rise by almost 20 per cent over last year.

“As you might expect we (and the other teams) provide loud and pointed feedback to the League office whenever there is an officiating mistake. But the teams seldom publicly comment on these because over a season they tend to even out,” Young wrote. “The difference here is the Toronto GM's role.”

Notes: Needing a win to maintain control of their playoff destiny, Ticat coach Kent Austin confirmed that receiver Canadian Andy Fantuz will miss Friday's match up in Ottawa due to injury. It's the second straight game Fantuz, the team's second-leading receiver, has missed since going down with a leg injury on Oct. 17.