The Wellington Phoenix will be without Canadian goalkeeper Rylee Foster for this Sunday’s Liberty A-League match against Newcastle Jets.
Foster has been suspended for one match after being controversially shown a straight red card for making off-the-ball contact with Canberra forward Sofia Christopherson at Porirua Park on Sunday evening.
The independent match review panel deemed Foster committed “serious unsporting conduct” and has proposed the minimum sanction for the offence which is a one match suspension.
The Phoenix reluctantly accept the decision as the club has no scope to refer the matter to the disciplinary and ethics committee to appeal the mandatory match suspension.
Director of football Shaun Gill is calling for the disciplinary regulations to be reviewed.
“It’s clear the match review panel need to have the powers to downgrade a red card in cases like this,” Gill said.
“Under the current disciplinary regulatory framework a one match suspension is the best we could have hoped for.
“The match review panel reduced the offence code to ensure Rylee only served a one match ban rather than the mandatory two matches for off-the-ball red card offences.”
Rylee Foster will be eligible to return for the Wellington Phoenix’s match against Western United on Sunday, February 18.
