The Gold Coast Bulletin

Wait goes on for Roar in spitting incident

- MARCO MONTEVERDE

BRISBANE Roar’s frustratin­g wait to discover the length of defender Avraam Papadopoul­os’s suspension for spitting at Sydney FC striker Matt Simon will end today.

In what has become farcical, the ban has yet to be announced despite it being almost two weeks since the incident took place in Sydney’s 3-1 win over the Roar.

Both players were sent off, with Simon receiving a onegame ban for retaliatio­n.

However, for Papadopoul­os and the Roar the matter has dragged on.

Two days after the incident, the match review panel decided to refer the matter to an independen­t disciplina­ry and ethics committee.

Papadopoul­os faced the committee in Sydney last Friday and expected to discover the length of his ban at the end of the hearing.

However, with the former Greek internatio­nal receiving an automatic one-game for being shown a red card, the committee didn’t feel the need to rush the decision and “reserved their determinat­ion”.

Football Federation Australia and the Roar had expected the length of the ban to be decided on Monday, but the committee has failed to deliver.

It’s understood that with committee chairman John Marshall having volunteere­d his time, other commitment­s have led to a delay in settling on the ban length.

While the Roar knew Papadopoul­os was not going to be available for tomorrow’s clash against Wellington at Gold Coast’s Cbus Super Stadium due to the regulation punishment for spitting at a player being six weeks, both the club and player are unhappy about being left in limbo.

The Roar’s defensive stocks will again be stretched tomorrow, with centre-back Jade North set to miss another week with a groin injury.

It’s likely that makeshift defender Jacob Pepper will again be paired with Daniel Bowles.

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