UNION. Burgess is not suspended after all on appeal
Christian Burgess will be able to play the match against Anderlecht next Sunday. The Disciplinary Council for Professional Football (DRP) of the Belgian Football Association (KBVB) decided on Thursday that the Union defender will receive an effective suspension for one match day for his throw-in at Tolu, but which had already been served during Union’s match against Cercle Brugge. According to the Council, the official notice of appeal from the federal public prosecutor’s office, and the result thereof in E-kickoff, came too late.
Burgess was sent off in Union’s opening match in the play-offs for a throw-in in the face of Tolu (Racing Genk). He received a one-day suspension for that last Friday. The federal public prosecutor’s office only officially appealed against that decision on Sunday morning, a few hours before the Union-Cercle Brugge match. Burgess nevertheless turned out to be unavailable, although the federal public prosecutor’s office had already informed Union informally on Saturday.
The Disciplinary Council ruled on Thursday that an informal message cannot have any legal or procedural value and can lead to misunderstandings. On the other hand, the Council noted that the federal public prosecutor’s office was not too late with its official appeal on Sunday at 10:37 am, but that the club and Burgess had not been officially informed in time. “In addition, the player still appeared ‘in red’ on the digital platform ‘E-kickoff’, which prevented the club R. Union St.-Gilloise from taking the risk of registering Mr. Burgess on the scoresheet,” the DRP wrote .
Regarding the error itself, the council found that Burgess had effectively compromised Tolu’s physical integrity. The fact that the striker was less than two meters away when the throw-in did not exonerate Burgess. Because Burgess had not yet been directly excluded, the Council found one match suspension, one postponement and a 1,500 euro fine sufficient.