The Football Federation Australia (FFA) independent Disciplinary & Ethics Committee comprising John Marshall SC (Chair), Lachlan Gyles SC and David Barrett (the Committee) convened to consider an incident referred to it, which arose in or around the 45th minute of Melbourne Victory’s Round 3 Hyundai A-League 2017/18 Match against Adelaide United on Friday, 20 October 2017.
The incident involved Besart Berisha (the Player) of Melbourne Victory.
The matter was referred to the Committee by the independent Match Review Panel (MRP).
The MRP had jurisdiction to consider the incident as it escaped the Referee’s attention (as defined under the Hyundai A-League Disciplinary Regulations (the Regulations)).
The MRP, having reviewed the incident at a hearing on Monday, 23 October 2017, determined that on the basis of the evidence reviewed the Player had a case to answer whether he committed the offence of “Unsporting conduct toward a match official” (Offence).
The MRP issued a Disciplinary Notice to the Player and referred the incident to the Committee for hearing as to whether the Offence had been committed, and if so, what sanction should be imposed.
The Committee determined that the Player did commit the Offence and must serve a suspension of two (2) matches, being the Mandatory Match Suspension plus one (1) additional Hyundai A-League match.
The Committee also issued a suspended sanction of a further two (2) matches to be served in the event that the Player commits any offence against a match official in any future match up until the conclusion of the Hyundai A-League 2017/18 Regular Season.
The Player has the right to appeal the determination of the Committee.
If the Player intends to do so, he must advise FFA within 7 days of receiving the written determination.
