Stade Francais player Julien Dupuy, has today lodged an appeal against the level of sanction imposed by an independent Disciplinary Hearing last Friday (17th December).
The independent Judicial Officer, HH Judge Jeff Blackett (England), found that Julien Dupuy was guilty of foul play in contravention of Law 10.4 (l) in that he made contact with the eye / eye area of Ulster Rugby player Stephen Ferris (No 6) and that the offence was at the top end in the level of seriousness. Having taken into account any mitigating and aggravating factors the independent Judicial Officer suspended the player for a period of 24 weeks running up to and including 3 June, 2010.
The Independent Appeal Committee will be appointed as soon as practicable.
NOTES:
i) Citing Commissioner
a) Citing Commissioners will be appointed by ERC for all Heineken Cup and all televised Amlin Challenge Cup matches and shall be entitled to cite a Player for any act or acts of Foul Play that in the Citing Commissioner's opinion warranted a citing.
b) For such matches Clubs will not have the power to cite a player but may refer incidents to the Citing Commissioner within 24 hours of the conclusion of the match.
c) The Citing Commissioner will have 50 hours from the start of the game to make a citing and the determination of the Citing Commissioner will be final and binding. In exceptional circumstances this deadline can be extended.
d) The Disciplinary Officer may forward the submitted Citing to a Citing Officer to determine whether there are sufficient grounds for the citing to progress.
e) The Disciplinary Officer will then bring a charge against the cited player.
(ii) Independent Disciplinary Hearing
a) Citing hearings will be heard by an independent Judicial Officer as soon as is practicable. Until the hearing a cited player is eligible to play in ERC tournaments
b) The independent Judicial Officer is chosen by the Chairman of the independent Disciplinary Panel, Professor Lorne Crerar.
c) The ERC Disciplinary Officer, Roger O'Connor, presents the case against the player
d) Both parties to the hearing (ERC and the player) have the right to appeal decisions of the independent Disciplinary Hearing. Appeals must be lodged within 72 hours of receiving the full written decision from the Chairman of the independent Disciplinary Committee.
The full written decision of the independent Appeal Committee will be available on www.ercrugby.com/disciplinenews
