Minutes from CMAS's decission to suspend Graham Henderson

These minutes were forwarded to me by Carol Rose (I assume for publication on this board)

the following, divided into 2-3 parts are the accusations made against Graham by CMAS. He was found guilty - no specifics - and banded for 3 years. No specific accuser was ever identified.
You may note that a couple of accusations occured before he was president, several are misdated, one is silly, etc.

Please be advised I wrote these answers with consultation of Commission excepting Donato form Italy.

Translation Original text in French
UW Hockey Commission
Reading of infringements to CMAS Statutes, Internal Rules and rules

1. Rules and procedures fro the organisation of CMAS Championships
1.1. Non official communication of the results of the 2004, 2005 and 2006 championships
Not withstanding several requests, several times repeated to the commission and/or the organisation, CMAS never received official communication for the results for these
three championships.
The systemically received answer was: “up to CMAS to se results in the site of the competition"
This behaviour
a. is against the Rules and Procedures established that results must be sent every day
b. does not offer any guarantee about the exactitude of published results because not signed as confirmation by the international judge.
During the first week of the 2006 Championships, the CMAS office was closed, so no results could be received. As it is the responsibility of the CMAS employee to send the results and no employee was present, this process was at general fault. The Commission apologizes for the fault on their obligation.

Concerning the validity of the results, we were unaware of any requirement for a signature on the results, so we apologize if we missed this requirement in our reading of the various relevant documents, and we are pleased to meet all requirments as written.

1.2. Inclusion of Championships not recognized by CMAS ( 2004- 2005- 2006) in the championship
a. The Commission continues in inserting in the program of its World and European championships some "championships junior and master categories, events that do not observe standards established by Rules and Procedures in order to obtain the qualification of championships.
On junior, masters and mixed divisions:
The uw hockey rules are adjusted every 2 years and then sent to CMAS for approval. The Masters divisions were added in 1994 and the Junior and open (mixed) divisions in 1998. Perhaps the Commission should bring the specific changes and additions to the attention of the Board when submitting the Rules for approval.

As there is no mention in the CMAS Statutes or Internal Rules of a process for requesting additional divisions, we were unaware of any procedure. And the Procedures and Obligations manual had not yet been created in 1994 and 1998. We regret not formally requesting these divisions be added to our competitions.

b. The insertion of these not recognized categories increases the total duration of championships creating therefore more board and lodging expenses for federations attending or not attending in these junior and master categories.
UW Hockey has always tried to be inclusive. Adding and allowing these divisions before they were eligible for world championship status allowed new nations and new teams, especially Juniors, to participate in an international competition and encouraged the spread, improvement and advancement of the sport.

And additional divisions/teams provide a deeper financial base for hosting the World Championships, exposure to high level play and strategy for new and junior teams and is cost saving for most federations. More teams means lower entry fees as the cost of the event is spread over more participants.

And, the extra divisions do not add to the length of the event. Elite teams play 2 games per day. A competition and finals for 18 countries in the Elite divisions would take a minimum of 12 days with or without other divisions.

We apologize that we did not bring the creation of these new divisions to the attention of the BOD and will take care, in the future, to inform the BOD more accurately. In the future after each Rules Meeting, the Commission will send an addendum list to the BOD with the updated rules, so the BOD can see the specific changes and/or additions to the UW Hockey Rules.

Let me also note that to hold 3 separate championships - for elite, for juniors and for masters is extremely expensive. Smaller championships cost everyone more money - the federations, the hosts and the athletes. It would require the Commission President, the Tournament Director and World Chief Referee to attend 3 events instead of one. Each world championship costs the organiser about $4000.00 USD in CMAS fees and support. This means higher entry fees for the teams. One championship taking 12-14 days is far cheaper, in every aspect, for all concerned. And, one championship allows growth of quality and quantity of our sport.

c. The Commission, not satisfied for all this, in certain championships
{1) Accepted the participation of
(a) mixed teams
There is mixed gender sport in the Olympics. Our ‘open’ divisions allow for greater participation particularly for newer countries and provides particularly for greater participation by women players who would not be able to participate otherwise. These open divisions are only allowed in the Junior and Masters divisions. Again we apologise that we did not make our rules and aims clear to the Board.

(b) of international teams (Barbarians)
There have been no ‘international teams’ in any CMAS championships since 2001. There has never been an ‘international team at a World Championship.

(2) Entered in the program of CMAS championships some matches among teams of different categories
The Commission is not aware of any CMAS Championship where teams of different categories (divisions) played each other, and we certainly apologise that anyone reported such an event as we certainly are unaware of any occurrence.

(3) Certain athletes participate, during the championships, in different categories (for example Elite + Masters) see point 1.5
This participation is allowed in our rules of play, and it usually only happens occasionally usually when a player is injured and cannot continue. Any such participation follows all rules of the divisions. In fact, we can see no reason for prohibition of dual participation. Until very recently, playing in more than one division was not prohibited by any CMAS manual, and dual participation did not occur in 2006. Again we apologise for any misunderstanding.

Procedures & Obligations manual is dated February 2007 as approved by the CMAS BOD #155.

In recent years, there are few if any meetings of the Sports Committee and fewer still scheduled meetings of the Commissions at the time of the CMAS GAs. The Procedures & Obligations manuals were not discussed, defended, approved, amended or modified by the Committee and/or the Commissions. Many of the limits and requirements are unacceptable to underwater hockey, but there is no recourse.

1.3 2006 anti doping control
According to
a. Obligations and Procedures for the organisation of a CMAS Championship
b. CMAS Anti Doping Code
An anti doping control carried out on a certain number of athletes clearly defined by both rules as ay article 1 .3 a and b
a. must be compulsorily carried out
b. a report, as by enclosure in Obligations and Procedures, on which must be written down the number of tests carried out, must be compulsorily sent to CMAS

The ‘report’ appears to be listed in the appendices of the recent and current Procedures & Obligations manual, but it does not appear to be available as it cannot be downloaded from the CMAS website. We apologise that we did not attempt to request or find the form.


CMAS never received this report and no reply about the request sent by CMAS to the organisation of the championships.

If controls have been carried out and if it has been done in an accredited laboratory, as required by CMAS Anti Doping Code, the laboratory knows perfectly which obligations are up to it, one of which is to communicate CMAS the results of such tests.

Proper and required drug testing, by CMAS standard, was carried out. As the CMAS code instructs us that the test results be presented to the CMAS official present, and I was an elected CMAS official, I gathered the results. At the suggestion of CMAS Anti Doping official, Karl Heinz-Krell, four tests were done, selected at random, from the 4 finalist teams for the elite gold medals. All tests were negative.

It appears the CMAS drug code needs further development, clarification and amplification. Please be assured that all CMAS and WADA standards were applied and followed. And we apologise for any miscommunication.

1.4. Meeting of the Commission on the occasion of the 2005 European Championship
On the occasion of the hockey championship held in Marseille in 2005,i t was forbidden to a CMAS employee to attend the meeting of the commission and he was requested to leave the meeting room.
President Graham Henderson was not personally present at this event, but he has been assured by 2 members of the Commission, who were present, that this situation did not occur. In fact Flavia was not only present but was very helpful and assisted with the translation. And let me assure you, we would never tolerate such treatment of a CMAS employee at any Commission meeting

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continued

1.5. Protocol ceremonies
On the occasion of the World Championship in New Zealand, the US team won the gold medal. The national anthem played was a pop version of the national anthem by Jimmy Henricks. Luckily, no press or official representative of the town of nation was attending.
The unsuitable US national anthem was actually played at the 2002 champion- ships in Canada. This occurred because teams were asked to supply their anthem, and this version was the one supplied by the US officials, and it was not checked by the organisers. No offense was taken by any USA persons present. But, let me assure you, steps have now been taken to prevent such an occurrence as it is deemed inappropriate. All anthems are now supplied by the organisers and previewed by the World Tournament Director. We do apologise and assure you it will not happen again.




1.6. Sports Licenses
According to Obligations and Procedures, each athlete participating in the a CMAS Championships, must have a CMAS sports license for the corresponding discipline.
The name list of athletes taking part at the 2006 championship was never communicated to CMAS. CMAS reconstructed on its own this list via site of the championship where the names of the athletes of each national team were listed.

A control was carried out on the basis of this reconstructed list, those results are here below

From this control the result is, taking into account Elite category only
a. that 39 athletes of the 320 did not have any sport licenses ie 87.81%
b. that no athlete of 3 teams from 2 countries out of 16 who participated at the 2006 championships have no sports license (Turkish male and female teams and Japanese team)
As the CMAS employee was not present at the 2006 World Championships, it became the responsibility of the host organizing committee to check the sport licenses for all elite teams. Each federation at the event was required to present their licenses to the championships office. This was done. But it would be helpful if a formal procedure for this process in the future.

There are always player changes at the last minute for any of several reasons: injury, illness, family obligations, work obligations and so forth. The CMAS underwater sports are true amateur sports, and the participants are subject to pressures not seen in the Olympic level athlete.

We apologize for any misunderstandings, but all licenses were checked, and I believe all athletes present in the elite divisions had current licenses, but as the CMAS office was closed, it was not possible to match licenses at the champion- ships with any list in the CMAS office. Also such a large event makes accuracy difficult. It may be noted the Dutch teams were issued out of date uw rugby licenses by CMAS which further compounded the confusion. We did the best we could under the circumstances, and hope a better method of accuracy can be achieved.

2. CMAS Statutes and Internal Rules
2.1 . Participation of teams of no CMAS affiliated federations (2006)
When the request of affiliation of ‘Jersey UW Hockey Club’ was rejected by CMAS BD, this refusal was confirmed by CMAS General Assembly, the Commission accepted one team of this club at the 2006 CMAS World Championships.
The commission esteems to be able to go beyond the decisions taken by CMAS General Assemblies is compulsory to all CMAS members.



At the time of the 2006 World Championships, the request to CAS regarding the status of Jersey had not been decided. The Commission, at the time, believed the request/decision could easily go either way. It would have been of no use to Jersey to discover after the Championship they were eligible to play - if CAS had agreed with the Commission. A decision was made to allow their participation but in a division other than elite - a division that was ‘unofficial’ by CMAS regulations.

As it turned out, the Commission was wrong as CAS agreed with CMAS. It was a calculated risk, and the Commission was in error. We always acknowledged the vote of the General Assembly, and we apologise, but we wanted to err on the side of participation - which was the whole point of our case to CAS.

2.2. Anti Doping Control
If it had to be confirmed that no anti doping tests was carried out when the anti doping code was approved by CMAS General Assembly, this show ion the same way that the hockey commission esteems to have the right beyond decisions taken by CMAS General Assembly.
As pointed out in point 1.3, anti doping tests were carried out; all negative.

2.3. Meeting of the Commission held by video conference on March 14, 2006 and whose decisions have been voluntarily hidden to CMAS.
in a document sent to CAS and signed by Mr. Graham Henderson, he points out that the following decision has been taken
‘It is proposed to discuss with CMAS to change its decision and if this could not be done in a reasonable time, the President is authorised to submit claim against the decision and begin the procedure the funds of the commission (sec) will be used and if insufficient, demand will be made to ‘affiliated federations to obtain necessary funds’

In the accompanying letter, Mr. Graham Henderson states:
“I enclosed, as by your request, copy of the minutes. I have to stress the fact that we should have sent “it normally to CMAS after its approval by our general assembly scheduled during out World Championships. In that case we decided to keep these minutes up to the end of the CAS procedure, this not to prejudice our suit.’
Please be reminded that the minutes of all meetings held at the 2006 World Championships (August 2006) were not available to anyone until late Fall 2006. The Secretary of the Commission left the World Championships and immediately had surgery on her hand. She was off work 12 weeks, in physical therapy and unable to type.

Thus being full aware of the obligations up to all commissions, Mr Graham Henderson did not observe this rule of the CMAS Internal Rules.



It is a voluntary and admitted by writing nonobservance of CMAS Statutes and Internal Rules. It was thanks to a letter received by CAS that CMAS was informed about the procedure of claim started upon the request of the Hockey Commission and not by the latter.

2.4. Current account open in the name of the Commission
At point 2.3, Mr. Graham Henderson deals about money up to the commission. He confirms the existence of a current account opne in the name of the Commission and he states that the existence of this account gives a juridical status to the Commission by justifying the right of the Commission to submit claim before the CAS about the decision taken by the BD and confirmed by the General Assembly in rejecting the membership request of Jersey.
Data of this account as by statement of account are the following:
Name of the bank Commonwealth Bank of Australia
No account 06 3144 10339172
Owner of the account World Underwater Hockey Commission
Received statement Statement of account n 4
(turnover from Aug.22,2006 to Nov.11, 2006)
Full balance: 2, 03 AUD

The existence of this account was totally unknown to CMAS before the authorisation in opening an account for the Commission.
Further more, the Commission never submitted balance to any General Assembly.

Once again the Commission is beyond laws and obligations up to it and established in CMAS Statutes and Internal Rules.
As it is not treated in the Statutes or Internal Rules, we were unaware of any prohibition on any commission having a bank account. And, as none of the commissions have any budget from CMAS, the account was set up (by Graham Henderson, co signed by Carol Rose) to accept donations for world underwater hockey not the commission per se. It was actually a personal account designed for support of the sport. We were unaware of any prohibition on such accounts, but be assured, the moneys (income and expense) in the account will be reported to CMAS if necessary. Again we apologise.

3. Wrong matters submitted by Mr. Graham Henderson
3.1 . Decision taken by the Board of Directors in rejecting the request of Jersey's affiliation
This candidature was rejected by 8 NO, 7 Yes and 4 abstentions
Taken into account that 2 members brought 2 proxies and a third person one proxy, 3 members had a total of 8 votes and Mr. Graham Henderson state that these 3 members alone, with their proxies, rejected the Jersey candidature. Being the number of votes not quoted in the Minutes of BD meetings, unless expressly requested for the vote that they have expressed, this statement without grounding.

There were 19 votes at the BOD meeting in question - as stated in the Minutes. The affiliation of Jersey was rejected by one vote. As the proxy holders were also noted in the Minutes, it is known that persons opposed to the affiliation held the proxies, therefore it is logical, in the face of a rejection by one vote, to assume the proxy holders votes were the power behind the rejection. The information and numbers stated in the minutes support this conclusion.


3.2 Confirmation by the General Assembly of the decision taken by the Board of Directors
Mr. Graham Henderson omits consciously to say that the refusal by the Board of Directors was confirmed by the following General Assembly by
85 Yes 64.89% of total expressed votes
28 No 21/37% of total expressed votes
18 Abstentions 13.74% of total expressed votes
No legislative body is always correct and/or legal in their deliberations. The Commission believed as there are no specific criteria for affiliation in the Statutes or Internal Rules that the General Assembly was prejudiced by statements made against the Jersey. Most democratic countries have a highest court, and organisations as well as government are allowed to appeal to that judicial body. CAS is the highest court in sport; therefore, the Commission appealed to it.

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continued


3.3 CMAS Official absent during the 2006 World Championships
The President was charged of another mission, the Secretary General had to represent there CMAS
The Commission requested CAS an urgent procedure and the deadlines for replying and limited to 6 days the Secretary General
a. esteemed to be totally available to manage this matter
b. he informed the organisation by proposing them to send urgently an invitation to the Chairlady of CMAS Sports Committee in order she could, having Russian nationality, obtain visa for representing CMAS at this championship, but no following to this request by the organisation.

It is a commonly known fact that visa applications take time, and applications from particular countries taken even more time. Urgency is not considered an important factor by most governments. There was no satisfactory solution in this instance. We are sorry the Sports President could not gain the visa in time to attend, but neither we nor the host had a possible solution.

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Slayer of Spambots - amongst other things in my spare time.
I work for the Love of a Good Woman, and not a bad little player too ;-)
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Sounds like a lot of apologizing for stuff not responsible for. Perhaps that didn't translate well into French.

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And the countdown begins... Ay, ay ay ay, ay ay ay ay ay ay ay ay ay.. Colombia!

I was specifically told, by a member of the Disciplinary Commission, that the apologetic format was required or de rigure or necessary. You cannot believe how stupid I felt saying I'm sorry over and over again for stuff that needed no apology. It appears to be the proper 'format' for answering charges ?????????

Carol

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Carol Rose

[quote=CarlK;4743]These minutes were forwarded to me by Carol Rose (I assume for publication on this board)

Yes it was intended for publication. These are not minutes, not proceedings; these are the charges and answers to those charges made by CMAS against Graham Henderson, and by default, the uw hockey Commission. I wrote the answers or rebutal testimony which follows each accusation(s).

And I just sent Carl a copy of my Commission resignation letter - which he is welcome to publish also.

Carol Rose, President USOA, world referree, etc...............

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Carol Rose

Carol's letter of resignation has been posted in a separate thread.

__________________
Slayer of Spambots - amongst other things in my spare time.
I work for the Love of a Good Woman, and not a bad little player too ;-)
Chumba Concept Salon
Professional Hair Stylist

My thoughts are:
After GH had:
Taken expensive legal action against CMAS through CAS
Deliberately ignored CMAS rules at Sheffield
Published minutes of a meeting referring to “putting a gun to CMAS’s head”
Deliberately undermined BARI

I am not surprised CMAS decided to take disciplinary action against him.

Most particularly having requested a CMAS vote on the participation of Jersey, which he lost, Graham ignored the ruling. This alone is probably enough to warrant disciplinary proceedings.
In the defence stated, it is claimed there was no dual participation of athletes at Sheffield. According to the web-site of that event, both French and Australian Open Elite and Masters Elite teams had dual registered Luc Horvais and Greg Bush. I don’t see why dual registration is a problem, but rules have to be obeyed within governing bodies and part of the defence given was that it didn’t occur.
Without checking every issue myself with UWHC and with the CMAS execs involved I cannot satisfy myself the rights and wrongs of every issue. I just can’t regard the information I hear from UWHC as unquestionably fair and accurate see also this post: GB Under Water Hockey :: View topic - Unjust CMAS
I don’t have the time or inclination to check into all of the issues of the disciplinary but I think it is reasonable in the circumstances for CMAS to pursue disciplinary action to get rid of a President who appears to be constantly working against them.
Graham’s actions can be argued to be in the best interests of hockey and Sheffield can only be judged to have been a huge success for us. However to be a part of a body such as CMAS it is necessary to stick to their rules. Ignoring their rulings is likely to lead to the current situation which I regard as contrived. Challenging CMAS rules then ignoring their rules is a route which could only realistically lead to where we are today and I regard these actions as having deliberately split the sport, although I expect Graham will disagree with this.
There is a perfectly valid debate to be had about whether hockey should split from CMAS and whether WAA or CMAS offer a better future. If all nations could go to WAA, the decision makes itself.
It does concern me that I find some of the information put out by the UWHC to be inaccurate or biased against CMAS and a poor basis for making decisions about our future. However I am also concerned about CMAS, mainly because hockey is not their primary focus but also some of the valid reasons that UWHC raise (especially Masters and Juniors).

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GB National Squads Manager (also Open Master & Ladies Elite)

British Underwater Sports Association President

May I please repeat, I wrote these answers - not Graham, alto he and all other commission members, save Donato, agreed to them. I find it abhorent (sp?) to follow rules and regulations blindly. The regs about double registration, age 35 max for elite, no mixed gender teams, and so forth were presented to the commission presidents as final. There was no input, no discussion, no consultation, nada. The regs were made, supposedly by BOD, but really by President and Sec General. There is no method or process to change them. When regulations are detremental and final, it is totally frustrating. The Sports Committee, where perhaps we mite (but not likely) get a hearing, has not met in several years. CMAS thinks fin swimming only. They claim all are Olympic standards yet there are mixed teams in the Olympics in both individual and team sports. All President Ferrero does is scream, literally scream, 'you must follow the rules.' That sort of attitude got tea tossed in Boston Harbor in 1776 and is unacceptable.

Carol

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Carol Rose

I can only imagine. If ever again, and hopefully not, contact me and I can write up some apologies for you.

I'm sorry you are too stupid to believe reality but here is the way it really happened...

I'm sorry your ears were covered with your butt cheeks so you couldn't hear me when I said...

I sincerely apologize for not being more clear about how ignorant your approach is toward handling a growing sport.

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And the countdown begins... Ay, ay ay ay, ay ay ay ay ay ay ay ay ay.. Colombia!