HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson has been fined $20,000 for labelling the umpiring in Saturday's loss to Gold Coast at the MCG as "disgraceful".

Clarkson will pay $5,000 of the penalty to the Freeze MND fundraising campaign, while the remaining $15,000 has been suspended until the end of the 2018 season.

A subsequent apology to the AFL and its umpiring department on Sunday was not enough to save Clarkson from a penalty, with the League declaring his comments were detrimental to the League's ability to attract officials.

"The AFL took into account the public apology from Alastair on Sunday afternoon, and also the fact he made direct contact with AFL umpiring director Peter Schwab to speak to him personally," football operations manager Simon Lethlean said.

"Alastair relayed to me that he regretted his comments in the aftermath of his post-match conference and was aware they had crossed the line beyond what was acceptable in how umpires are treated and spoken about.

"As a senior figure in our game, and one of our leading coaches, Alastair is well aware that such remarks are extremely serious in regard to the professionalism of the umpires and our ability to continue to attract officials to our game at all levels."

Asked about a contentious decision in his post-match press conference on Saturday, Clarkson told reporters with a smile on his face: "I am not able to comment on disgraceful umpiring ... so I am better off not saying anything".

The 49-year-old appeared on Fox Footy at half-time of the Carlton clash against Greater Western Sydney to apologise for the comment.

"It was probably a poor choice of words. I went to the press conference with the full intention of trying to educate our members and the football public of where Hawthorn is at," Clarkson said.

"In no way was I trying to tarnish the umpiring or the AFL (but) I just got caught up in the emotion of a game … I apologise to the umps and also the AFL.

"I know my comments were out of whack, but I was actually trying to bow out of the conversation more so than tip into it, but if you use one word that was inappropriate, that'll cost me, I think."

The AFL last year fined North Melbourne coach Brad Scott $30,000 for accusing umpires of bias in a post-match press conference, with the Kangaroos fined a further $50,000 as a result of the incident.

Former Essendon coach James Hird was fined $20,000 for labelling an umpire's performance as "disgraceful" in 2004.

Saturday's criticism of umpires was not the first from Clarkson. In 2012 he was suspended from the South Metro Junior Football League for four matches after verbally abusing an umpire in an under-9s match.