by Atlético da Póvoa announced this Tuesday, via a statement, that they will appeal the refereeing decision that relegated them to fourth place in Sunday’s National Indoor Clubs Division 2 men’s competition in Pombal.
“Faced with a weekend expected of dedication and sporting celebration, with the two ACPV teams, men and women, ready to represent the colors they wore, they were ‘cut’ from these moments by the incompetence and complete lack of respect for its teams Division II, as there were timelines to comply and not compromise Division I,” begins with reference to the announcement, which alleges several irregularities.
Here is the full statement:
“Atletico da Póvoa publicly expresses its complete outrage at the organization and performance of the Portuguese Athletics Federation at the National Indoor Club Final Championship.
Faced with an expected weekend of dedication and sporting celebration, with the ACPV teams, men and women, ready to represent the colors they wore, these moments were “cut” by incompetence and a complete lack of respect for the teams. of the II Division, as there were meeting and non-compromising schedules of the I Division.
At some point the competition began to be delayed due to incompetence of the judges/FPA due to incorrect placement of layers, disrespect of the regulatory space for the high jump competition, forcing athletes, coaches and clubs to “beg” to proceed accordingly. so that the athletes can achieve their best performance and contribute to the spectacle that this Competition should be.
Later they start the competition that no one is watching, they rank the 4×400 relay without waiting for the results of many important races to create better competitive groups, since this is the last and, in most cases, decisive for the General Ranking and with that they set the National pedestal.
Finally incompetent judges, who tell the athlete “Now there is no time, go like this!” and then to disqualify the Relay, he was allegedly wearing the high jump shoes which, ironically, are apparently authorized in the list published by the IAAF and under the FPA Rules of Competition are also regulatory.
As an “icing on the cake”, Atlético da Póvoa, feeling that the irregularities were many, held the Protest at 2:45 p.m., immediately after the results were published (2:25 p.m., according to the refereeing jury) which recorded in the protest that the appeal was served at 3pm when the protest has 30 minutes to present (Arbitration Committee makes false statements)
To find out what happened, the high jumper’s shoes were requested by the jury and measured without the presence of the athlete or at least one representative of the club, as this would allow me to verify. However, according to the aforementioned IAAF table, shoes are allowed in races up to 800 meters.
In conclusion, the biggest scream in this vacuum of inaction, indifference, lack of objectivity and impartiality, is the fact that other athletes were asked to see what happened during the relay, proving that the judge told the athlete to race like that. , but in the end the same testimonies that confirmed the version of our athlete were not taken into account.
Thus, in view of the above, Atlético da Póvoa intends to request the decision of the protest and continue with the necessary steps to restore the sporting truth, recognizing the successive mistakes that marked the event and took the title of National Champion from the club and the shot at unfair 4th place. It is no longer just the title at stake, but respect for the sport and all the players who serve Athletics.
The direction of Atlético da Póvoa”
