Appeal rejected, so Magpie free to play

GLENORCHY defender Josh Grant will be playing against the Tigers this weekend after having no further games added to his one-week suspension for using abusive language towards an umpire.

Last week Grant was found guilty by the independent TSL tribunal under the charge of behaving in an abusive, insulting, threatening or obscene manner towards or in relation to an umpire in the Round 9 game against Lauderdale.

Grant, was handed a onematch ban and missed the weekend’s clash against reigning premier North Launceston.

However, the TSL manage- ment appealed against the decision last night on the grounds that the sanction imposed by the tribunal was manifestly inadequate, but was unsuccessful in its argument.

Grant has been given no further suspension by the TSL independent appeals board, which dismissed TSL management’s appeal.

“The appeals board determined that the appeal was to be dismissed as the tribunal followed the available guidelines adequately and used the discretion granted to them to apply an appropriate sanction based on the evidence presented,” TSL management said.

“In providing their decision, the appeals board recommended that the TSL consider establishing a base sanction for future cases of such nature. TSL management accept the decision of the appeals board.”

Glenorchy president John McCann said he and the club were supporting Grant, who McCann believed has been unfairly treated publicly considering the incident was at the lower end of the scale.

“He is a player who has made an error,” McCann said.

“Because the nature of the offence is involving an umpire, it gets stigmatised.

“We apologise for the event and we expect better from our players and hopefully all players can learn from this.”