ONE System | 04/02/2021 11:05
Joshua. Paid for the act (Omri Stein)
Hapoel Beer Sheva midfielder Joshua was sent off for four games, the Football Association’s court ruled today (Thursday), following the spitting at midfielder Avi Rikan in the closing seconds of the game between his team and Maccabi Tel Aviv on Monday in which they lost in BS 1: 0 to the champion at Turner Stadium. He is expected to miss the games against Hapoel Kfar Saba, MS Ashdod, Hapoel Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv in the cup. In the investigation, Joshua claimed that he received curses from Maccabi Tel Aviv players and did not spit.
Judge Advocate Noam Lubin ruled that Joshua spat on a blank, despite claims by BS and Joshua himself that only a spitting move was made. The decision reads: “After watching and analyzing the video as stated above, I came to the conclusion that the defendant should be convicted of the offenses for which he was on trial. With all due respect to the arguments of “the defendant,” at the end of the day, and subject to the circumstances described above, I have no shadow of a doubt that the defendant did spit in Avi Rikan’s direction. “
“The circumstances in which Rikan stands with his back to the defendant, does not see him at all, so he can not create any provocation in front of him, engaged in an argument with Spori hints and suddenly holds his neck, all while raising the hand by the defendant to block the angle of view of his mouth, and spitting motion. He does it in Riken’s direction, and Riken’s instinctive and immediate reaction to the incident holding his neck, only after which he notices the defendant proves to me beyond any shadow of a doubt that the defendant did spit on Riken, and also tried to hide it in his actions before and after the spitting. I was also strengthened by the testimony of Riken himself, which for me was credible evidence that was not hidden, and matched what was seen in the video, as opposed to the testimony of the defendant, which was lacking in factual substantiation, to say the least. Therefore, I convict the defendant of the offense attributed to him. “
“Regarding the punishment. As stated, when it was decided that the defendant had committed what he had done, it remained to be discussed the extent of the punishment that would be imposed on him. As the association claims in the indictment and during the hearing itself, an act of spitting on an opposing player is a serious act equivalent to an assault. “For the sake of example and not from our own districts and in order to understand that this is not a trivial matter, it was only at the end of last December that a Russia team striker from Mönchengladbach, Marcus Toram, was disciplined when York was documented in the face of a Hoffenheim player.”
Toram was sentenced to a heavy fine of 6 games, and a 40,000 euro fine, in addition to the fine his own club imposed on him for his actions in the amount of 150,000 euros !! In my humble opinion, this is a degrading and humiliating act, which was done literally behind the back of a Maccabi Tel Aviv player, with the intention of harming him, while trying to disguise the act, as described above. “
Add to that the fact that we are in the age of the corona, where spitting is not “only” a humiliating and hurtful event, but may cause a real health risk, and therefore should also be considered an irresponsible act by the defendant, and you have other aggravating circumstances for this event. “To”.
“Therefore, I have decided that in weighing the facts described above, along with the fact that the defendant was prosecuted, the first since he reached the Premier League districts, the defendant will be sentenced to an actual suspension from 4 games. I will emphasize that if it had not been for his first prosecution, his punishment would have been much heavier. “
