February 15, 2011
The ECF announces that the Court of Arbitration for Sports in Lausanne has dismissed the appeal lodged by the Polish Curling Association in the matter of Poland’s exclusion from ECC 2010 (see Ruling here).
ECF President Andrew Ferguson-Smith stated:
“We make every effort possible to ensure that the ECF is a model of efficiency in every aspect of its work, and so are clearly gratified that the Court for Sports Arbitration has ruled in our favour. We feel, however, no sense of triumphalism, as the principal losers in this case are all European curlers, and Polish ones doubly. On the one hand, the issue which gave rise to this case was easily avoidable, and indeed, was avoided by every other member nation; on the other, the appeal itself was a hugely expensive display of distraction at the service of inefficiency, depriving curlers of considerable funding which should otherwise have benefited them.
This undignified and unnecessary episode reinforces our determination to ensure that the National Associations which our Annual General Meetings choose to recognize work diligently, effectively, and honestly, for the benefit of those they are called to serve.”