The Irish Hockey Association has lodged an appeal to the court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne against the ruling of the Disciplinary Commission of the International Hockey Federation which denied Ireland an automatic place in the World Cup Finals next year. At the World Cup Qualifying Tournament in Amiens, France, Ireland played Lithuania on Saturday 29 September for the 5th/6th place in the Tournament and an automatic place in the World Cup in Perth Australia in 2002. After extra time the match ended 2-2 and during the subsequent penalty stroke competition the Tournament Official, Bev Campbell, enforced the wrong order of stroke taking even though Irish Captain Rachael Kohler queried the order.
Lithuania went on to win the penalty stroke competition but Ireland immediately lodged an appeal under Rule 11.4 of the Tournament Regulations. The Tournament Director, Claire Peeters Monseu upheld Ireland's appeal and instructed the penalty stroke competition to be retaken from where the breach of the rule occurred. Lithuania did not turn up for the retake of the penalty stroke competition, and following a 2-1 victory over Scotland, Ireland were duly confirmed as the final qualifier from the tournament.
Lithuania lodged a subsequent appeal to the FIH against the TD's decision to uphold Ireland's appeal, which was heard on November 28 in Brussells. The Disciplinary Commission of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) Robert Watson, Kenneth Read, Eduardo Guelfand, HRH Sultan Azlan Shah met to consider the Lithuanian appeal were joined by Representatives from Lithuania, India and Ireland.
At the meeting, the following decisions were made:
(a) That the protest lodged by Ireland on 29th September be dismissed.
(b) Although Lithuania are the winners of the penalty stroke competition their behaviour has been such that they ought not automatically qualify for the 10th World Cup. They should join other nations in a further qualification event.
(c) Scotland’s position of qualification should be recorded as 5th
(d) Ireland should attend the further qualification event, as should India and the USA together with Lithuania.
(e) That provided the hosts of the 1st Women’s Champions Challenge scheduled to be played in South Africa between 9th and 17th February 2002 are agreeable, that event be enlarged to 8 nations to enable the attendance of Lithuania and Ireland. The 2 of those 4 teams with the highest positions at the conclusion of the tournament is deemed to have qualified for the 10th World Cup. In the event that either Lithuania or Ireland win the Champions Challenge neither qualify for the Champions Trophy. In that event the team ranked next after the classification matches shall qualify for the Champions Trophy.
Following the Commission hearing and its ruling, the Association held the view that Ireland had a strong case for going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The IHA Officers have consulted with legal advisors, Mr Giles Kennedy and with Senior Council Mr Paul Sreenan and Junior Council Mr Robert Barron. The legal advice fully supported the IHA view to appeal to CAS.
Subsequently the Irish Hockey Association today lodged an Appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in Lausanne, Switzerland, against the ruling of the Disciplinary Commission of the International Hockey Federation issued on Thursday, 29th November 2001.
In a further development from the FIH on Tuesday, the Association received a copy of a letter from South Africa to the FIH in which it stated that the SA Hockey Association was unable to accommodate the extra two teams in the Champions Challenge in February as proposed by the Disciplinary Commission.
Filed by Shane Murray
