Barcelona“All the clubs want to play, the European competition is a big milestone. What we want is to play with a format that is the best for our sport and that, moreover, has already been agreed. The costs of what we ask for are for the clubs should not be taken over by the Federation. If we continue as before, hockey is the big loser, “said Toni Miró, a spokesman for the European Roller Hockey Club Association (EHCA). Miró, who spoke on behalf of the teams willing to give up their European place, makes it clear that the will to change is to benefit the hockey show.
Barça, Reus, Noia and Caldes are the four Catalan representatives of the EHCA, made up of twelve European clubs. In an exercise to improve the quality of this sport on a professional level and looking for a more attractive format for maximum continental competition, these clubs met with World Skate (WS), the world governing body of roller hockey. . From this desire for dialogue came a new format for the European League, but with just a few days to go before the draw for the new season, World Skate Europe-Rink Hockey (WSE) is not the only one. ‘has accepted. According to Miró, “the WSE has taken off going backwards”.
Players are living with uncertainty the pulse raised by the WSE, as EHCA clubs have made clear their stance to compete only if the pre-agreement that gave way to the teams ’entry into European competition is respected. Initially, EHCA members said they would not register, as they are opposed to the current format of the competition. Meetings with the WS, however, led the entities to a pre-agreement that culminated in the registration of the 12 clubs in the European League. The teams want the continental league to have sixteen places. The qualifiers would be divided into two groups of eight participants each. With a league format, they would play a round-robin match. The top four finishers in each group would be in the final eight to crown the European champion.
On 19 August, however, the European committee published a different format than agreed with twenty teams divided into four groups of five and only one match between them. The EHCA expressed its disagreement with the format, as the clubs consider that it does not meet the necessary performance characteristics. EHCA President Joao Nuno Araujo sent two emails, on August 21 and 30, to WS President Sabatino Aracu. Araujo asked him for explanations. So far it has not received any response, and from the EHCA they see how the WSE completely ignores the agreement between the clubs and the WS. The pulse is clear.
EHCA clubs have been inspired by different sports to redesign the competition, such as handball, where there is an agreement between clubs and federations to work hand in hand. In the case of roller hockey, Miró explains that the federations have never found a sponsor for the international competition. Collaboration between clubs and federations could be a solution. The EHCA wants to make it clear that the important thing is to benefit the sport and they want to move away from Super League ideas. “Whoever has earned the right to play must be able to play,” the spokesman says. The new format does not seek to replace the leagues, it wants to strengthen them by allowing the usual development of national competitions. In countries such as Switzerland and Germany, where hockey is not professional and cannot be allowed to play during the week, the competition would be adapted so that all the teams that have won it on the court can participate.
Miró has his roots in Catalan hockey. “We are very strong. But for the sake of hockey we have to try to grow all over the country, and in the rest of Europe we need hockey to go up. In Portugal it is already a very powerful sport. A school must be created. “, relata. With the new format, the clubs and the WS argue that they can foster the development and growth of roller hockey, but the WSE continues to reassert itself by going its own way. Either the European federation gives in or will see the 12 EHCA clubs give up taking part in Saturday’s draw and therefore leave the competition.
.
