Football Australia’s independent Match Review Panel (MRP) has proposed a two-game ban for Melbourne City captain Aziz Behich after an incident in Saturday’s Melbourne Derby.
Behich was issued a Disciplinary Notice to show cause from the MRP on Monday, after an incident between the City captain and Melbourne Victory forward Nikos Vergos in the Round 2 clash at AAMI Park.
The MRP reconvened on Tuesday afternoon to consider submissions received on behalf of Behich in relation to the incident.
Under clause 11.1(c)(i) of the A-Leagues Disciplinary Regulations, the MRP can identify citation incidents should they believe a red card offence escaped the attention of the referees.
On Tuesday, the MRP – consisting of Simon Micallef (Chair), Alan Davidson and Con Diomis – convened to consider the incident and determined Behich had committed the offence of: “Assault on a Player (e.g. violent conduct when not challenging for the ball) or against any other person other than a Match Official, including an attempted Assault.”
The minimum sanction for the offence is two games, being the mandatory match suspension plus one additional match.
The MRP proposed a two-game ban for Behich, who has until 2pm AEDT on Wednesday, October 30 to advise FA whether he wishes to refer the matter to the independent Disciplinary and Ethics Committee.
