A few hours before the significant hearing in the case of the events of the Haifa derby, Hapoel Haifa sent a letter of demand to the judges’ union. In their letter, a copy of which was sent to the Football Association’s legal department, Haifa residents summoned Judge Liran Liani for a hearing today (Wednesday) – due to inaccuracies, they said, and interference in violation of the association’s chairman, Ronit Tirosh, in a report written by the former international referee. The disciplinary tribunal, Adv. Israel Shimoni, who will sit in the hearing, accepted the request and the judge will attend the hearing.
In a request filed by attorney Idan Goldenberg, Hapoel Haifa claims that prosecution based on television footage is only possible if the association’s prosecutor, Adv. Nir Reshef, would have received the approval of the association’s attorney general, Adv. Amit Pines – which was not done And Hapoel Haifa even presents evidence of this.
Later in the letter, Adv. Goldberg notes that the main evidence in the case is Liani’s report, which noted the involvement of Muhammad Abu Fani in the alleged brawl, but the association’s prosecutor chose to ignore this and did not summon the Maccabi Haifa contact. According to Hapoel Haifa, Adv. Reshef acted contrary to a report that included Abu Fani, which shows them that the report is not conclusive evidence.
For Adv. Goldenberg, Tirosh’s words in an interview with Radio 103FM are no less important in the matter before us. According to the transcript revealed at Hapoel Haifa, Tirosh said: “I asked him to add one comment and he very much accepted it, that is, to leave an opening that there may be more people. “Actors, or functionaries who were involved in a brawl, which could not be seen on the given cameras.”
This means, according to Hapoel Haifa, that in an interview that took place, the union’s chairman admitted that she had talked to Liani before sending the judging report to the union – which is contrary to procedures. She even asked him to add comments to the report that was submitted, and he complied with her request. According to the bylaws, the chief judge is required to complete the judging report based on his own vision on the court or relying on the VAR cameras and his staff only.
In any case, there are estimates that the court will make a decision today. There are two main sections that will be prosecuted, on both sides: participation in a brawl and disorder (Planich, Ben Dov, Malul, Ben Best and Erel), and participation in a brawl in aggravated circumstances and disorder (Habashi, Haziza, Turgeman, Capiloto and Bibbs). San Menachem is charged only with unsportsmanlike conduct and disorderly conduct.
Legal sources estimate that it will not be possible to evade expulsions, ranging from 1-2 expulsions among those accused of participating in a brawl and disorder, compared to 3-4 expulsions for players who have a section that includes “aggravating circumstances”. The clubs are also expected to receive a fine of tens of thousands of shekels. In any case, these are only assessments and the parties will try to reach a compromise with the plaintiff even before that.
Ronit Tirosh She said in response: “As far as looking at it coldly, the report should be of the judge without any consultations, additions, or intervention – but we talked in the morning and Liani told me they did a very hard job. They worked and watched clips all night. He told me that ‘not sure he was able to locate everyone involved’, so I told him to mention it in the report. This is called intervention? I would never dictate to him what to put in the report. Hapoel Haifa can claim intervention and the court will decide whether this is true or not. “That’s not why they would disqualify the report and say they did not riot there. I can only regret not convening an earlier meeting after such a serious incident and making order.”
