Macarthur FC captain Ulises Dávila has been handed a two-game ban after Football Australia’s independent Match Review Panel (MRP) reviewed an incident in his side’s defeat to Western United in Round 23 of the Isuzu UTE A-League season.
The incident involved Dávila and Western captain Josh Risdon, who confronted one another after a hefty collision between Bulls winger Raphael Borges Rodrigues and Western defender Kane Vidmar.
Dávila raised his hand to Risdon’s throat in the incident which, after convening on Monday, the MRP – consisting of Simon Micallef (Chair), Alan Davidson and Alan Contini – decided to review under the authority of identifying “Citation Incidents” which should have been sanctioned with a red card and was missed by the referee.
Watch the incident below.
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The MRP issued Dávila with a disciplinary notice to show cause on Monday, April 8, and on Tuesday afternoon the MRP reconvened having received submissions on behalf of Dávila in response to the notice.
The MRP determined Dávila has 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” and as a result, handed Dávila a two-game ban.
The ban was the minimum sanction for the offence, including a mandatory match suspension of one game, plus one additional game.
Dávila will miss Macarthur’s next two games against Adelaide Untied and Sydney FC before returning for the final game of the regular season against Wellington Phoenix.
The 2020-21 joint-winner of the Johnny Warren Medal is now ineligible for the award this season. Under Australian Professional Leagues (APL)’s guidelines, a player is ineligible to win the Johnny Warren Medal if the player receives a direct red card in a match, or otherwise suspended as a result of a determination of a body under the A-League Men Disciplinary Regulations during the regular season for a number of offences, including violent conduct.
