Yellow card mix-up sorted

September 21 2007

Shepparton News

Shepparton has avoided a last-minute trip to the North Eastern Soccer League appeals board after a potential drama was diffused by Football Federation Victoria referees co-ordinator Chris Bambridge.

Shepparton defender Johnny Davkovski was set to appeal against a one-match suspension for accumulating two yellow cards over the course of the finals series on the grounds one of them had been awarded to his brother David Davkovski.

Referees are allowed to rescind yellow cards on the grounds of mistaken identity under FIFA laws.

On the official team sheets Davkovski was registered as having been yellow-carded in the qualifying and preliminary finals, prompting the league to suspend him.

Bambridge yesterday received a copy of referee Ali Barakat's notebook from the qualifying final, passing the information on to the league to show that Johnny Davkovski had been wrongly registered as having received a yellow card.

Scrawled in Barakat's notebook in the Shepparton column was the code "Y 10 for dissent"; David Davkovski was playing in the number 10 shirt for Shepparton that afternoon, while Johnny Davkovski was wearing number two.

Adding even more drama to the situation was the history in the Davkovski family of suspended players and grand finals.

In 2005 Dianne Davkovski played in the women's grand final for winning team Shepparton despite allegedly collecting two yellow cards in the finals series.

Shepparton was charged with misconduct over the incident, but was allowed to keep the premiership on two grounds despite tribunal chairman Bob Schirmer admitting there was no doubt that two yellow cards had been issued to Dianne Davkovski.

League president Frank Trimboli was pleased with the outcome of the Johnny Davkovski probe.

"All I ask is that club officials are vigilant and check the team sheets after each match," Trimboli said.