The conclusion in two months

This is the time expected for the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to resolve on the appeal presented by the Catalan Federation after the oral hearing that took place yesterday in Lausanne (Switzerland).
For more than 6 hours the two parts involved, Catalan federation and FIRS, presented their conclusions and witnesses.
Due to a clause of confidentiality, hardly any details of the hearing have been made public, but the Catalan representatives admitted they were quite happy with the developments of the hearing.
Ramon Basiana, President of the Catalan Federation, Ignasi Donate, director of the Catalan Council of Sport and Jean-Louis Dupont the prestigious belgian lawyer, were the representatives of the Catalan cause. On the other hand, the FIRS was represented by the General Secretary, Roberto Marotta and their lawyer, the Italian Francesco Malatesta.

It is known, that the Catalans presented four witnesses: the formers president and vice-president of the FIRS, Isidre Oliveras de la Riva and Ernesto Gonzalez Molina respectively, and two Mexican directors, the vice-president of the American Confederation, Minu Cortes and the president of the Mexican Federation of Roller Sports, Juan Carlos Hernandez.
Two more witnesses had been summoned, the vice-director of the Spanish Council of Sport, Jose Luis Aguado and the actual president of the FIRS, but none of them turned up for the hearing.

It must be remembered that the two Mexican witnesses demanded without success the secret vote on the last FIRS general Assembly in Fresno, hence their presence as witnesses on the Catalan side.
Apparently, the arguments of the FIRS were mainly based on the results of the voting held in Fresno, in which Catalonia was clearly refused as full member of the FIRS. According to the FIRS, the overwhelming difference in votes proves the position of the majority of members of the FIRS.
Conversely, the Catalans believe that the value of democracy is not the quantity of votes but the quality of the electoral process, and this process was not fair because some members requested a secret voting and this was denied, which according to the Catalan representatives, would invalidate the whole process.

The Catalans have praised the professionality of the three members of the Tribunal and have confirmed that they will respect whichever decision they take.


Justice will be done!