Gidi Lipkin 02/02/2021 09:49
Joshua and Leibowitz (Radad Jabara)
Knesset Beer Sheva’s Joshua will face disciplinary action in the Football Association’s court, the association’s prosecutor, Adv. Nir Reshef, announced today (Tuesday). The Portuguese was seen spitting towards Maccabi Tel Aviv midfielder Avi Rikan, towards the end of the game in which BS lost 1-0 to the champion at Turner Stadium.
Riken asked referee Gal Leibowitz, who did not see what was happening, to check what happened with the help of the VAR system and seemed very upset even after the whistle was blown for the end of the game. Reshef, who examined the matter from the point of view of the regulations, ordered the prosecution on the counts of unsportsmanlike conduct and injury to an opposing player. The allegations regarding unsportsmanlike conduct will be presented during the hearing as unsportsmanlike conduct in aggravated circumstances.
It should be noted that the segment captured on camera did not move to Neve Ilan (where the VAR judges sat), at least not the slow motion segment where the spitting action is seen, so the VAR room could not be seen by the 8 cameras transmitted to the judges in real time. Therefore it was not possible to signal to the referee of the game. At the same time, Sharaf examined the incident himself and chose to prosecute the actor.
“Towards the end of the game, the defendant was seen filming the TV with his elbow, turned and made a spitting motion towards Avi Rikan who was behind him. The injury disappeared from the eyes of the referee Gal Leibowitz. “This is unsportsmanlike conduct in aggravated circumstances. The accuser will further claim that spitting in the face of another constitutes an assault under criminal law and therefore this act should also be considered an offense of injuring an opposing player,” the plaintiff’s statement of claim was attached to the spitting video.
