HAMILTON - Hamilton Tiger-Cats head coach and general manager Kent Austin was fined $5,000 on Sunday for bumping into Toronto receiver Dave Stala during Friday's win against the Argonauts.

Television replays from Friday's game showed Austin walking along the sidelines in the third quarter and lowering his shoulder into Stala's back. As Stala, a former Ticat, jogged back to Toronto's bench, he turned around and saw Austin and appeared to say something to him. Austin reacted by waving Stala back to his bench.

"After seeing the video of my sideline bump of Dave Stala during Friday's game, I have spoken with Dave and apologized for my action," Austin said in a statement. "I have high regard for Dave as a player and as a person, and by no means was he a premeditated target.

"Our organization holds our players and coaches to high standards of conduct. In this instance I fell short of those standards. I have apologized to our team and assured them that going forward my behaviour will be consistent with those standards."

Austin, who downplayed the incident after the game, added that he takes "full responsibility" for his actions.

The Ticats beat the Argos 35-27 on Friday to sweep the season series against their division rival for the first time since 2010.

Hamilton leads the East with an 8-3 record. Toronto, which has lost three straight games, is third at 6-5.