If any club makes a report (or complaint) to the league, then the league
must investigate it properly and take each incident seriously. I don't know much about the incident in question but think about it this way: If you were walking down the street and someone broke your jaw, would you be within your rights to make a police report? And then do you think the cops would call on any witnesses they can get? Of course they would! And likewise the tribunal should take into account any testimony they can get.
I'm not making any comment on the ban except to say that in reality the tribunal doesn't have much choice but to hand down strict pentalties, this is dictated by the nature of the competition, likewise for appeals (although I'm an advocate for allowing appeals to the longer bans, especially since they're rarer than your run of the mill two or three week striking ban).
Having said all of that, I agree entirely that the tribunal can be pretty inconsistent with their decisions, but no-one's perfect right?
