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yen
02-20-2004 8:47 pm
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better late then never
yes greek , pprotest n play
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Johnny
02-20-2004 9:38 pm
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Late Court Challenge
The conditions for the Greek Hockey Team to "qualify" for the Olympic in Athens have been known for quite a while and have been discussed at length in hockey circles and forums.
For obvious reasons, the Greeks don't agree with these conditions (otherwise widely deemed as reasonable) but they didn't manage to convince the FIH (working in agreement with the IOC on that issue) and they didn't manage either to meet any of the conditions, so they have now decided to put the matter in the hands of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
It is their right and the CAS has been created exactly for this type of cases.
What is (to put it mildly) "annoying" is that this move could have been made months ago, and the verdict, one way or the other, would be known by now and everybody would know clearly where they stand.
This 11th hour court challenge means that there is a good chance that it won't be settled before the Olympic Qualifier in Madrid (March 2 to 13) and that the participating teams won't know if the tournament will qualify 6 or 7 teams.
Not to mention that, if the CAS had already decided in favor of Greece, the play-off series between Canada and Greece would not have been necessary and a lot of money could have been saved.
I find the late action of the Greek Hockey Federation very disrespectful of the other teams.
How do you say "Fair-Play" in Greek?..
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Zorro
02-21-2004 4:54 am
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FIH gets kicked
It would be a dream becoming reality!! The dutch FIH getīs itīs bum kicked at court, guess this is the only place where their "politics" donīt work - at least I hope so. Give fairness a chance Judges at CAS and Greece back itīs rights.
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HAROON
02-21-2004 1:27 pm
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................................................................
BEST OF LUCK TO ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL AND PAKI COME HOME WITH THE TROPHY
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Smiler
02-22-2004 2:46 am
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The Greek Hockey Association were late in putting their sport in readiness for the Athens Olympics. The games were awarded in 1997 yet it was only after the 2002 World Cup that the deposed Indian Coach Cedric D'Souza was appointed as their National Coach - barely two years before the 2004 Games.
Their advertisements around the world for hockey players of Greek extraction to make themselves available were a cynical revelation of the state of the game in Greece.
The Greek HA were again late in withdrawing their Woman's team from the Athens pre-Olympic tournament and it is anyones guess whether the Greek ladies will pitch for their matches in Auckland. Will the Greeks be chargd for the expenses of their opponents if they do not arrive?
Johnny is correct in pointing out that if they intended all along to challenge through CAS then this should have been instituted immediately so that the athletes of all hockey playing nations could know exactly where the lines would be drawn.
The all round tardiness of the Greek Hockey Association in dealing with these issues would indicate that if they do not deserve to have representation at the 2004 Olympic Hockey competitions.
Their obdurateness in persisting with their current course of action now begins tarnish the Greek National Olympic Committee as they struggle to complete preparations for what should be a time of international celebration and goodwill for athletes and nations from all over our globe in the founding country of the Olympic Games.
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Jürgen
02-22-2004 5:16 am
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Simple solution
Let Greece start at Olympics , and the 8 th team of the Olympic--Qualifikation , too !!! So the competition will played with 14 teams and the problem is fast "out--of--this--world" !!!!
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nasir
02-22-2004 7:13 am
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dear johney
why cannot oly mens hockey be 16 teams n womens 14 teams.
let everyone be happy.
football oly has 16 teams.
greeks go ahead take stay order on hockey
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SG
02-22-2004 4:26 pm
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Qualifying for Olympics
To be honest, I can't understand the issue here.
Surely the Olympics is about getting the best standard of hockey possible on the world stage, and that it is an unfair outcome for the countries that are good enough to be there, to have to sit on the sideline and watch an inferior team get hammered. Based on the results of the Canada/Greece qualifying series, a team capable of beating Greece by 10 goals could otherwise miss out.
The Greek should be happy to have had the chance they got, which many would argue was a waste of time anyway. Grow up... move on.
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ZEUS
02-23-2004 3:57 am
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LET CAS DECIDE
To Johnny and Smiler
Exactly how early would you have liked for the Greeks to react? You obvously forget that the CUBANS pulled out just the other day. And the FIH ruled once again with less favoured terms, you have followed the story about Canada been ranked higher than Cuba. And despite what the Greeks did or did not since 1997 what remains is that the team that pitched up for the test events and the play-offs did not deserved to be out of the OG in actual fact in the six months left to the OG they would have been even better.
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DareDevil
02-23-2004 6:53 am
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@Smiler
FIH made a big mistake by introducing this qualifyer much too late and change a contract which already was fixed in 97 when Greece was awarded as host nation of the games. It is only logical that Greece tried to beat Canada under protest and I don't think Canada did not like playing test matches. Without FIH's decession all this mess would have never happened - so who is to blame my friend? Take of your glasses and look clearly at the facts before u post here.
By the way the qualifyer was played and the worst sub-standard pitch i have seen in my life: no changing rooms, no toilets, overwatered pitch - this is what I call disrespect to any playing team my friend...
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Insider
02-23-2004 7:04 am
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The reason that the tournament could not be extended to 16 teams is because there is a very limited amount of accomodation in the olymipic village. The olympics is already the only remaining top class tournament where the teams have to select a squad of 16 rather than 18 as normal. This is due to the fact that there isn't enough room in the village to accomodate those extra players for each team.
Greece need to just bow out gracefully. They were hammered by the Canadians 7-1 and then I expect that the Canadians were pretty disappointed to win by just 3-1 in the second game. Imagine the embarassment if they had to play Australia Germany, Pakistan or Holland and the other top six nations.
On top of that, if Greece are to take the place of the seventh place team at the qualifier, then a bunch of mercenaries who have been bought in to make up a scratch team will take the place of a team who have trained long and hard to get to the olympics. Going to an olympic games is the pinnacle for any hockey player and for a team to have that taken away to be replaced by a team who would undoubtedly get brutally thrashed in every game is not right!
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.
02-23-2004 8:27 am
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.
You people all seem to forget that every sport of the host country gets automatic entery. You CANNOT expect Greece to just "accept it gracfully" when it is their right to play in the Olympic Games held in their country. Who cares if they are not in the top 10 or even top 20. What about all the other OG games, for example USA.... where were they ranked? Who made such a big stink then??? Can't u all just stop being so unreasonable and put yourselves in their shoes.
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Blip
02-23-2004 8:34 am
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Greece Out
By the sound of things we are going to have a sub standard pitch, facilities and if succesful Greek team in the olympics.
I f they spent 1/2 the money, time and effort into building a team maybe they would have deserved a place in the olympics. But they did not they left it all too late (just like in the planning of the event) and are have a team not capable of competing. Lets put it to a vote - I for one want a good standard of hockey and not have a joke of a national side keeping out a potential Olympic champion.
Greece be ashamed you are a laughing stock!!
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Johnny
02-23-2004 9:28 am
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Early protest
To Zeus: if I remember well, the Cubans didn't pull out "just the other day" but back in December.
This anyway only changed the opponent of Greece in the play-off, NOT the format of the play-off, which was already known last summer by the general public and I suspect much earlier by the Greek Hockey Federation.
A protest to CAS back in September-October would have been settled, one way or the other, before the end of 2003, i.e long before the beginning of the Olympic Qualifier.
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ZEUS
02-24-2004 1:36 am
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TO Johnny and the rest
When the All African games finished end of October 2003 the Greeks knew that they will play Cuba. They withdrew and then Canada came in in December so the issue came under protest only then. The Greek Federation approach the FIH and argued the case and the change in the team they had to challenge in the play-offs. It was a golden opportunity for the FIH to rule in favour of Greece and get of the hook of their ruling. They offered no reason why Greece had to play with a much higher team now. There we are now and lets see what happens.
BLIP take off your blinkers. The facilities in Athens were described as state of the art and they are indeed. Look at the comments of the teams that participated in the test event and the comments on the success at the FIH site. When you talk like that all you do is to expose yourself as a very biased and misinformed person and therefore with no credible opinion.
Now a question to all : Can you please define what should be the minimum level that the team of the country that hosts the OG should have in order to participate. By offering your opinion you may contribute in creating the rule to be included in the IOC chart. At the moment there is nothing specific but generalities about sufficient standard or level. So lets define the level.
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Just a fan
02-24-2004 3:44 am
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Are you still talking about Olympic Spirit??
I m wondering how the representatives of FIH felt when they saw the Greek Heroos crying while (somebody) stealing their right to participate in the O.G.
Are we still talking about Olympic Spirit and the meaning of the Olympic Games???
I thing that all the ?heads? do not know the exact meaning of the word Olympic Games.
The pitch that the Greek and Canadian teams played was unnaceptable and the facilities were inexistent but the main problem is not that.
The Greek Team succeeded in 10 months preparation to face the 17th ranking team in the world while it is the 50th.
We can not talking for levels here while some other sports ex. the handball team in Sidney lost with many goals diference. Why this criteria only for the Greek Hockey Team ?
Are we still talking for the trials of promoting hockey ???
I really would like to have an opinion of somebody of the FIH if he/she had a boy/girl in the team would host the Olympic Games and somebody would tell him/her that he/she will not play at the Olympics. I really would like to have the worlds that he would tell to his child.
I thing that everybody have to leave for a while egoisms and other benefits and allow to the Greek Team to participate at their ?own? Olympic Games.
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Connie Gregory
02-24-2004 6:31 am
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Greeks should play in Oympics
As the host nation, regardless of how many new rules the federation puts up, Greece has should have the right under natural justice, to enter any sport they wish.Go Greece!
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just an observation
02-24-2004 4:15 pm
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umm..
Perhaps just a fan, it would depend on wether he/she him/her...whatever. Were available to travel from the country they had been living in for MOST OF THEIR LIVES to athens to be told by a long distance relative of such news..
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Blip
02-25-2004 4:40 am
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Zeus
I have read the comments from the teams at the test event and heard Jason Lee the GB coach state that the pitch was not international standard!
The Greek Hockey Authorities should spend the money getting the facilities up to international standard before throwing it down the drain in the hope that their mixed bag of journeymen play in the ultimate tournament. 10 MONTHS PREP FOR AN OLYMPIC TOURNAMENT SOME PLAYERS/TEAMS HAVE BEEN PREPARING FOR YEARS - THE GREEKS ARE GOING TO MAKE THIS TOURNMENT A JOKE!!!
You simply dont deserve to be there
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Rhino
02-25-2004 6:20 am
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And less money for Hockey in Greece
Read today the article in the greek newspaper Kathimerini. It reads that the greek women team did not go to new zealand because the money was not provided by the minister of sports. Well but they did not play neither in the Athens Test events on begining of february. So what is the matter ? And in the same newspaper they say that the greek federation will use 15 000 Euros they have for making the appeal. And the young players are still crying for a stadium and a championship. The greek federation is ridiculous and should concentrate on the development of the game in Greece. The olympics games are a good opportunity for the greek players to enjoy the spectacle. It is better than to shout insults to teams who will cruch the greek tem. Full stop. I will not write again
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ZEUS
02-26-2004 2:06 am
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For Blip
I spoke to Jason Lee and the team manager of GB at the test event and I am quoting their comments. It is a very nice turf but because of the thick pile it slowns down the game which suit us fine for our playing style. The manufacturer of the turf Tarket Sommers is approved approved manufacturer by the FIH. So what is it that the Greeks have done wrong? For goodness sake find something else. The rest can wait the decision by CAS and don't forget that the places for grab at the pre-Olympic tournament have always been six and not seven and some of the host teams in previous OG -see USA men's team- were no better than the Greek men's team. Is it that you maybe looking at your country's interest in this opportunity at the expense of the host?
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Blip
02-26-2004 3:10 am
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Zeus
Not at all I am confident in my countrites ability and the fact they thumped Greece in the test event shows that they would be easy points in the OG.
I am more concerned that a country with no history of hockey and no inclination to play the sport decide a team formed 10 months ago is worthy to participate in the OG. Canada are a far worthier team as evidenced by their efforts over the past 4 years.
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Aristoteles
05-04-2004 7:14 pm
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Greece hockey team should be in the Olympic Games as it is the host country. I will be there to watch every single game no matter the result! GO GREECE!!!
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x23
