Victory to appeal Fabiano ban

Melbourne Victory has confirmed it will appeal the decision by the independent Disciplinary Committee to suspend Ney Fabiano for nine matches after he was found guilty of spitting.

Fabiano was sanctioned by the Committee for eight matches over and above the mandatory one match suspension for his red card offence, for a total sanction of nine matches.

Victory indicated that they were considering an appeal when they released a statement on Thursday afternoon.

“The club is taking the matter very seriously and will advise Football Federation Australia of its intentions once all internal stakeholders have been engaged for review and external advice is sought,” the club said.

Melbourne released a further statement this evening informing the media that an appeal would be forthcoming.

“The club will lodge the appeal with Football Federation Australia on Friday morning, with the Appeals Committee hearing date to be advised.” the club revealed in a statement.

The match review panel had already dismissed an appeal by Melbourne on the weekend before referring the matter to the tribunal.

The Victory had claimed unsuccessfully that the red card given to Fabiano was an error in application.

A-League regulations indicate a minimum six-match ban for spitting, including the mandatory match suspension of one week, up to a maximum of 24 months.

Published on September 18, 2008