Punishment for Wallace and the volleyball confederation surprises COB – 02/05/2023 – Sport

The COB (Olympic Committee of Brazil) expected a reaction from its Ethics Council. But the severity of the punishment left committee officials stunned and debating how to respond.

This Tuesday morning (2), the Council increased the suspension of the opposite Wallace, from Sada Cruzeiro, from three months to five years. He wasn’t content with that. Determined that the CBV (Brazilian Volleyball Confederation) be disconnected from the COB system for six months. This prevents it from receiving financial transfers, including from lotteries.

The council decided to send an official letter to the federal government and Banco do Brasil, which sponsors the selections of the modality, so that “every patrimonial or non-patrimonial relationship that private entities have with the CBV and that presupposes the participation of the entity in the Olympic system, whose link ceases to exist on the present date”.

The board suspended Radamés Latari, president of the CBV, for one year, and sent a letter to the IOC (International Olympic Committee) informing the decisions taken.

According to the body, Wallace, the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation and the athlete’s team failed to comply with the terms of the decision because he entered the court last Sunday (30), in the final of the men’s volleyball Super League.

Wallace came off the bench and scored the point that gave the Minas Gerais team the title.

In a note, the CBV considered the suspension “totally disproportionate and unreasonable due to the CBV’s total lack of responsibility in the act that triggered the process” and promises to take legal action (read the full text below).

The decision by the Ethics Council, an independent body from the COB itself, created a limbo for volleyball in a year in which the pre-Olympic tournament is being played, in which Brazilian teams must compete for a place in the Paris 2024 Games.

Wallace had been suspended for three months because, in late January, he published a photo on his Instagram account. He was in a shooting club, with a gun in his hand and opened the application’s question box to answer questions from his followers. One of them questioned whether he would use that revolver to shoot the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). The player responded by opening a poll asking who would do that.

The punishment of the Brazilian national team player became a controversy between the COB Ethics Council and the STJD (Superior Court of Sports Justice) of volleyball.

The court dismissed the complaint against the opposite as it saw no relationship between the sport and his Instagram post. On the other hand, the committee body suspended him from any Olympic sporting activity in the country for three months.

The athlete and Sada Cruzeiro obtained an injunction in the sport’s STJD (Superior Court of Sports Justice), interrupting the punishment until the judgment of the merits of the appeal presented. This would free him to enter the court in the final stages of the Superliga. But the Ethics Council warned that the punishment was still valid.

Cruzeiro and Wallace went to the CBMA (Brazilian Chamber of Mediation and Arbitration) to mediate the opposite situation. The Board of COB sent a letter stating that it did not recognize the authority of the chamber on the matter.

In its order, the Ethics Council asks the president of COB, Paulo Wanderley, to disqualify CBMA. It also requests that the IOC (International Olympic Committee) be informed of the decisions.

Directors heard by the report consider that the Ethics Council weighed the hand in the punishment because the fight became a dispute of egos. Wallace and the CBV would have challenged (unnecessarily, in the view of some of them) the suspension imposed by the body linked to the COB. The president of the confederation, Radamés Latari, would have been warned of this and heard a request for Wallace not to play in the final.

There was also irritation at the understanding that the Ethics Council had created a situation in which its very existence and current format could be questioned. The main complaint is that the entity could not impose punishments on a confederation affiliated with the COB. This could happen through only one general meeting of the Committee.

consulted by Sheet, the COB has not officially commented. Wallace’s lawyer, Leonardo Andreotti, told O Globo newspaper that the punishment is “illegitimate and a clear extrapolation of competences”.

Read the note sent by the CBV:

“The CBV received with perplexity the decision of the Ethics Council of the Brazilian Olympic Committee (CECOB), which suspended the entity’s affiliation to the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) for six months. The decision goes so far as to determine the suspension of the transfer of COB resources to the CBV and recommend that public or private entities withdraw their sponsorship and support.

In the decision, which is totally disproportionate and unreasonable due to the CBV’s total lack of responsibility in the act that triggered the process, CECOB does not observe the rules of the COB statute itself, by not considering the decision of the Brazilian Center for Mediation and Arbitration (CBMA), arbitration body elected by COB according to the minutes of its Board of Directors. In the decision released this Tuesday, CECOB contradicts itself by asking for the disqualification of the CBMA as an arbitration body, admitting that today the body is competent to act in these cases. It is important to highlight that not even the secrecy of the ethical process was respected, since the press became aware of the decision even before any official communication to the CBV.

Thus, CBV is obliged to take all the legal measures necessary to guarantee its rights, given the threat to the participation of court and beach teams in important international competitions, and the risk to sponsorships and partnerships that give tranquility to professional growth. of players, for hosting court and beach events, and for the development of volleyball as a sport and as a social instrument.

The CBV reiterates that it is very sure of the actions it has taken in this case, all of which respect the applicable legislation and standards. From the beginning, CBV sought to protect volleyball, the Superliga, clubs, players, sponsors and fans, even without having a direct relationship or responsibility for any fact that generated this scenario. And it understands that this entire volleyball community should not be harmed by acts practiced by third parties or decisions that go beyond the limits established by law.

CECOB’s decision seriously jeopardizes the preparation of Brazilian volleyball for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and prevents teams from participating in the Pan American Games, in the base Worlds and in the stages of the Beach Volleyball World Tour. Despite this, the CBV guarantees that it will dedicate all its efforts and resources to maintain the preparation of athletes, on court and on the beach, for these important competitions. And it hopes that COB respects its statute and current legislation, and does not take any measure without CBV having a broad and unrestricted right to defense.

The CBV also reiterates that it repudiates any type of violence or incitement to violent acts, incompatible with the values ​​of respect and equality that guide the sport.“