Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett will fork out a $5,000 fine rather than attend umpire school - and has taken another swing at the AFL over its handling of his comments about umpiring.

Kennett said he would pay the money, saying it was better the matter be resolved as quickly as possible as he couldn't put it past the AFL to impose sanctions on the club such as the loss of premiership points.

And in a letter to AFL football operations boss Adrian Anderson, Kennett accused the league of working to limit free speech and that the AFL was "shooting the messenger".

Kennett was sanctioned by the AFL for comments earlier this month saying the officials were now "almost bigger than the game".

On Wednesday, the league issued Kennett with an ultimatum over the comments - pay $5,000 or attend a detailed umpiring seminar.

On Thursday, Kennett published another letter he had sent to Anderson, re-stating his concerns were with the inconsistency of umpiring amid the number of rule changes they were forced to deal with, and AFL-sanctioned miking of umpires for broadcast purposes.

"As my comments were not umpire or incident specific, were hardly outrageous, and expressed views that are felt by many in the community, one can only assume that you had already decided to fine me before receiving my letter of explanation," Kennett wrote.

"It is my view that ... these issues are of concern to a majority of the public.

"Further, that in sanctioning me for what were factual comments, expressing a commonly held view, the AFL is again shooting the messenger rather than addressing the fundamental issues."

In a separate open letter to Hawthorn members on Thursday, Kennett said he would pay the money but refused to back away from his comments.

"As much as I would like to have pursued the issue, it is better we all get on with what we are about and that is winning games," Kennett said.

"And secondly you could not put it past the AFL to impose sanctions on the club, such as loss of premiership points, if the matter was not settled and that we would not want.

"Let the matters of substance be settled in the court of public opinion.

"Be assured my future public comments will be as bland as those who seek to control us."

Hawthorn play Carlton at the MCG on Saturday.

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