Ballymena United feel 'justice has now prevailed' after winning appeal over Josh Carson suspension
Ballymena United say they are “pleased that justice has now prevailed” after confirming a successful appeal against Josh Carson’s three-game suspension following his challenge on Linfield’s Ethan McGee in the club’s season opener.
Former Northern Ireland international Carson was shown a yellow card by referee Lee Tavinder for a tackle on McGee during the Sky Blues’ 2-0 home defeat to David Healy’s side on August 10.
However, Tavinder took to social media after the match and said that Carson’s punishment should have been more severe while the midfielder himself admitted “I got away with a yellow” in an interview with BBC Sport NI having seen images of the challenge at full-time.
In an appeal of the suspension heard this week, it was revealed the Disciplinary Manager at the Irish Football Association received an email from Andrew Davey, Senior Refereeing Manager at the IFA, three days after the match relating to the tackle and referred the matter under Article 34.4 of the IFA's Disciplinary Code.
Article 34 covers “misconduct which has come to the attention of the committee other than by means of a match official’s report” and on August 16 Carson was sanctioned to a three-match ban relating to Article 1.9(ii), which is “to rectify obvious errors of judgement in the referee’s disciplinary decision”.
The IFA Disciplinary Committee upheld the suspension in October after Ballymena appealed, but a further appeal to that decision was launched and Carson’s three-game ban has now been wiped out after the Sky Blues were successful.
One key factor behind the outcome was that Carson’s challenge had already been dealt with in the match official's report, meaning the Disciplinary Committee adjudged the referral “was incorrectly made under Article 34”.
Carson will be available for Saturday’s Premiership trip to Crusaders and the club posted on social media: “Ballymena United are delighted to have won their appeal in the high-profile Josh Carson case, resulting in his three-game suspension being overturned.
"We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Jamie Bryson from JWB Consultancy for his expert representation throughout the appeal process.
"From the outset, we firmly believed that this matter had been appropriately addressed in the referee’s report at the time, and we are pleased that justice has now prevailed.”