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Irish Hockey Association

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.

At the World Cup Qualifying Tournament in Amiens, France Ireland played Lithuania on Saturday 29th 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 the 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. As a consequence the Tournament Director issued the following written statement

"The team from Lithuania having failed to appear for the Penalty Stroke competition at 10am in Amiens on Sunday, 30th September is considered as having withdrawn from the classification matches.

Match No. 53 Ireland V Scotland will take place at 13.30 in Abbeville

Match No. 52 Lithuania having withdrawn India is placed 7th in the final ranking."

Ireland defeated Scotland 2-1 in a golden goal to finish in 5th position in the Tournament.

Lithuania lodged an appeal to the FIH against the TD's decision to uphold Ireland's appeal.

On the 28th November 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. Representatives from Lithuania, India and Ireland attended the meeting in Brussels.

On the 29th November the Disciplinary Commission issued the following decisions:


That the protest lodged by Ireland on 29th September be dismissed.
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.
Scotland's position of qualification should be recorded as 5th
Ireland should attend the further qualification event, as should India and the USA together with Lithuania.
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 I.H.A. 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.

The Association continues to maintain that in Amiens the Irish team played to the Rules & Regulations of the Game and the Tournament, behaved correctly and fairly at all times and in the spirit of our sport.

In a further development from the FIH yesterday, Tuesday, the Association received a copy of a letter from South Africa to the F.I.H. in which it stated that the S.A Hockey Association was unable to accommodate the extra two teams in the Champions Challenge in February as proposed by the Disciplinary Commission which was part of its decision on the Lithuanian appeal.

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