…And pulls out age rule against players
While the prowess of the Belizean team continues to be evident on the court, so too are the problems of eligibility off it. First there was the question of nationality; whether it was by naturalization or by descent. Then there were talks of missed deadlines. Does it end there? Sadly, no. News Five spoke to Attorney Godfrey Smith today, who was offering advice while watching the games in Cancun on Monday and Minister of Sports Elvin Penner, regarding the latest issue that FIBA America has with the talented Belizean Heritage.
Via Phone: Elvin Penner, Minister of Sports
“FIBA has made a ruling already initially that they were ineligible and we are in the process of appealing that decision. What we need to do now is appeal that decision by FIBA and the appeal will be heard in a few weeks time so very possible once we have made our appeal and they have accepted our appeal, we will more than likely be allowed to finish the competition but our fate will not be known until that appeal has been heard. We at the ministry, are certainly assisting them financially to lodge this appeal because it does cost some money to do that. In fact, they had meeting this morning with the prime minister. The prime minister has promised them some financial assistance to make sure that the appeal is going to be put in on time. And also he did make a call to the Secretary General of FIBA in Europe. There is not much that we could have done in terms of fighting our case. It would have to be done throughout Appeals Board.”
Godfrey Smith, Attorney
“It appears now that the latest word from the Secretary General is that they agree with us on the constitutionality of what we’re saying. They also agree that naturalization is not an issue. They are now saying and we’re hearing this for the first time—I am hearing it for the first time and my understanding is that the Belize Basketball Federation officials are also hearing it for first time. The issue is now this: they have pointing to a rule that I haven’t seen, which they are relying on to say that for the players to have been eligible, they must have claimed Belizean nationality by the age of sixteen which they did not, therefore they are not eligible.”
Jose Sanchez
“Mr. Penner I am understanding that they are bringing up an entire new rule. They are not questioning the Belizean by descent, they are now saying that there is some rule that they had to be sixteen years old and they should have accepted the Belizean nationality by the time they were sixteen. That is the new rule they are pulling out now to say that these players cannot play.”
Via Phone: Elvin Penner
“I am not aware of that. I just spoke to Mr. Murrillo and I haven’t gotten that information as yet. But I think we’re basing our argument on our constitution. If you are, by our constitution, a Belizean nationality once you have Belizean parents, then you did not have to nationalize. So I am not aware of this age thing but if that is so then we have to tackle that. But I don’t see how they can make a ruling on a certain rule and later on try and pull out a different rule to target. I just think that they are sabotaging our team seeing how well we’re playing and they’re trying to distract us but we have advised Mr. Thompson and Mr. Murrillo that whatever we, as a government, can do; one to appeal and make sure that they finish the tournament, or even if we have to take it to the courts afterwards, we will assist in any way possible to do that.”
Godfrey Smith
“As a consequence the secretary general maintains that Belize can go ahead and play. If it wins, it won’t get any medals and it won’t get any points in relation to overall competition. So that’s where matters stand.”
Jose Sanchez
“The team just playing an exhibition game at this point?”
Via Phone: Elvin Penner
“No, we are certainly playing for the tournament, but like I said, we will not know if we will be awarded any points for the games at this point in time until our appeals has been heard.”
