The AFL is appealing Richmond defender Bachar Houli's two-match suspension for striking Carlton forward Jed Lamb, after deeming the charge as "manifestly inadequate".
On Tuesday night, the AFL Tribunal found Houli guilty of striking Lamb in a back-handed hit while trying to fend the forward off. Lamb was knocked out after being struck and was unable to take further part of the game last Sunday. The AFL released a statement shortly after the Wednesday afternoon deadline that it had lodged an appeal to increase Houli's two-match suspension. "The AFL wishes to advise that general manager football operations Simon Lethlean today notified the AFL Appeal Board and the Richmond Football Club that the AFL would appeal the two-game suspension imposed on Richmond's Bachar Houli for striking Carlton's Jed Lamb during the first quarter of Sunday's round 14 match at the MCG." The appeal will take place on Thursday night at 5:30pm and will be heard by three members of the Appeals Board which consists of chairman Peter O'Callaghan, deputy chairman Brian Collis QC, Brian Bourke, Michael Green, Stephen Jurica and John Schultz. Houli had submitted a character reference from Gold Logie-winner Waleed Aly and a statement from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to help his case. The MRP took the reference into consideration despite directly referring the case to the Tribunal after assessing the incident as high impact and high contact. Sam Tovey, who represented Houli, asked for the 29-year old to receive only a two-match suspension because of the defender's clean record both on and off the football field. AFL legal counsel Andrew Woods believed that Houli should have received a four-match suspension due to the extent of Lamb's concussion. It is believed that the ongoing incident could spark backlash against Houli, who is an advocate for promoting football in the Muslim community.
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