The organizers of the Baltic TOP League made a hasty decision in August, awarding “Livonia” a technical loss in a won duel against “Šiauliai” for a minor violation. After the decision of the Baltic TOP League, “Livonia” was no longer able to enter the semi-finals and will continue the fight for the 5th place in the overall standings.
Since the rules of the Baltic TOP League do not provide for the possibility of appeal, “Livonia” tried to achieve a repeated and fair review of the case in several weeks of correspondence and various negotiations. In the initial decision of the Baltic TOP League, many factors were not taken into account, but the “Livonians” practically did not have time to prepare a reasoned defense (less than 24 hours passed from the moment of receipt of the protest to the adoption of the unfavorable decision), because the review took place in an incomprehensible hurry, but at the request of the club to postpone the review of the case and the primitive commission did not react to the adoption of the decision. After long efforts, an independent Arbitration Commission was established (one Latvian, one Lithuanian and one Polish representative), which had to consider the dispute, but the conflict did not even begin to be analyzed, because the Lithuanian Rugby Federation and the “Šiauliai” club sabotaged the proceedings by not signing the arbitration rules and not providing the documentation requested by the commission .
Jānis Zuments, co-founder of the “Livonia” club. “The Commission made a clear and understandable decision, because without the cooperation of the other parties involved, there is not enough information to start the investigation. We have been forced to hire a lawyer in Lithuania and if we have even a 1% chance to win this case, we will use it. We believe that, whether or not we are right in the original offense, we have been blatantly mocked by ignoring our calls for compromise, blatantly lying and clearly defending the interests of our clubs. This was done by both Lithuanian clubs and the league itself.”
“If “Livonia” managed to regain 5 points in the competition table, then we would not see two Šiauliai clubs in the semi-finals today. Of course, the Lithuanian side does not want to allow this and has done everything possible to prevent it from happening. We believe that what is happening is neither fair nor transparent and, very importantly, does not correspond to any game values of rugby, a gentleman’s sport. Rugby, unlike many other sports, especially emphasizes the values of the game and their importance in all the processes taking place around rugby, which is why Lithuania’s actions in this case are doubly incomprehensible. We have witnessed that everything has been done so that the Latvians are not in the semi-finals, where there are now three teams from Šiauliai and one from Kaunas. It seems to me an exaggerated farce,” says Jānis Zuments.
“We will finish the season, we will play for this 5th-7th place, but we will not be in the strongest lineup. I will not hide that it is emotionally difficult for many players when they see such an attitude from the league. Since the moment of the protest, several incomprehensible coincidences have been observed in the league, which at some point lead the club’s management, coaches and players even to conspiracy theories,” admits the co-founder of the “Livonia” club.
“We don’t whine or complain. All we want from the beginning is for our case to be reviewed by experienced experts, appropriate people who are not affiliated with any of the clubs and who can look at the case independently. Considering that neither the league nor the Lithuanian Rugby Federation has given us such an opportunity, we will most likely meet in the Lithuanian court,” says Zument.
2024-09-28 16:55:33