OH Leuven plays it hard and goes to the Belgian Arbitration Court for Sport (BAS) against the ruling on OHL-KVM. OH Leuven does not like that it has to finish the home match of matchday 22 against KV Mechelen. That hadn’t turned up on January 15, because 2 of his goalkeepers had corona. OHL had counted on a forfeit defeat.
Do you still remember the images of the OH Leuven players who were needlessly warming up for a competition match against KV Mechelen?
Malinwa was unable to call on goalkeepers Gaëtan Coucke and Maxime Wenssens due to a corona infection and did not show up. It then asked for a postponement from the Pro League Calendar Committee, but that proposal received a negative verdict.
The reason? Goalkeeper Wenssens was considered a promise and was therefore not on the list of the A-team. A forfeit for OHL seemed a logical consequence.
But on Monday, the Disciplinary Council for Professional Football decided that the match – much to the dismay of OHL coach Marc Brys – must be made up because there is discrimination on the basis of age.
By appealing, we want to safeguard our rights
“This is a violation of a law that deserves much better. It seems to me a huge disgrace for the people who died trying to get human rights through it that there is now discrimination. It is a violation of a law who deserves much better. If you are the victim, you have to react,” said Brys on Wednesday after the win against Genk.
OHL added to the word and just announced – via the statement below – that it will appeal against the decision of the Disciplinary Council for Professional Football.
“A forfeit defeat is the only option”
“The club believes that by not showing up for the game, KV Mechelen has taken the law into their own hands and a forfeit defeat is the only possible outcome. This decision sets an important precedent in sport.”
“A disagreement between KV Mechelen and the federation about the interpretation of an article in the federation regulations to postpone the match or not is at the root of this situation. It is therefore by no means the intention to unleash a polemic between the two clubs .”
“OH Leuven is involved, however, because due to the fate of the calendar we were the opponent of the relevant match day. We therefore threaten to become the injured party due to this same fate and by appealing we want to safeguard our rights.”
