On the other hand, Regulation 12(i)(3) of the Championship Regulations states that if both teams are convicted of an offense that means responsibility for not holding the game, both teams will lose all points, and the result of the game will be set at 0:0.
- To complete the picture, I will note that the offense relevant to the application of the aforementioned sanction regarding the result of the game 0:0 without points, is with respect to Hapoel Be'er Sheva, the offense listed in section 4(h) of the Championship Regulations, an offense of an outburst of fans, as a result of which the game did not start. The relevant offenses regarding Bnei Sakhnin are the offense listed in section 4(h) above, which is also attributed to it, and as stated, Bnei Sakhnin was also charged with the offense set forth in section 4(i), which concerns the team's refusal to play.
As clarified, the claim of the Association's claim, and this is the claim that the center of the dispute in this case, is that both teams committed offenses that imply responsibility for not holding the game, Bnei Sakhnin, mainly in its refusal to take the pitch despite the referee's orders, and Hapoel Be'er Sheva, in the fans' outburst that caused the game not to take place.
The Football Association's Disciplinary Court (hereinafter: the "Disciplinary Court") held a hearing on the indictments, and as part of the hearing, no interrogation of the match referee was requested, and at the end of the hearing a reasoned verdict was issued.
- The judgment was given by a majority of opinions, and in light of the importance of the issue, I will briefly present the position of each of the judges. I will clarify that I will only give the summary of the decision of the judges, without the entirety of the reasoning.
In the framework of the judgment, the Chief Judge, Mr. Israel Shimoni (hereinafter: "Judge Shimoni"), states that the match referee's report (hereinafter: "the referee's report") was approved as accurate by both teams, and therefore he adopts what is stated therein.
- Regarding the offense attributed to Bnei Sakhnin, the offense of refusing to hold a game, Mr. Shimoni categorically states that the referees of the game were instructed to get on the pitch and the Bnei Sakhnin players refused to obey the referee's instructions to do so. From this point onwards, Bnei Sakhnin should be convicted of the offense of refusing to play a game.
In addition, according to his position, Bnei Sakhnin should be convicted of offenses of fan rioting at the game, as well as fan rioting, under aggravated circumstances. Another offense in which Bnei Sakhnin should be convicted is calling racist or offensive slogans.
- In the case of Hapoel Be'Asher Sheva, Judge Shimoni reaches the conclusion that Hapoel Be'er Sheva should be convicted of offenses of fans breaking into a game as well as rioting fans, under aggravated circumstances, and that there is no reason to convict him of the offense of injury by fans.
- These convictions of Judge Shimoni, as I will clarify below, are generally accepted by the other judges, and in fact they are not the focus of the dispute in the case before me.
However, in addition to these decisions, Dayan Shimoni discussed the main dispute before me, which is the question of Hapoel Be'er Sheva's responsibility for not holding the game.