Xavier Vinyals
The result of the assembly in Rome is misleading
Xavier Vinyals
The result of the assembly in Rome is misleading
President of the Pro Catalan Sports Teams Platform
How do you evaluate the result of Rome?
Long before the day of the assembly, I knew that we would lose and I said so in public. It was practically impossible to win this vote. At any rate and despite the fact that the defeat of the Catalan Skating Federation is apparently very clear, I make a positive evaluation of the whole process.
Please, explain to us why 125 against 43 may be considered something positive.
For three reasons: firstly, because a vote took place and therefore it was proven that the whole process was legal. What is more, the President of the FIRS recognised that the stand of the CSF was both legal and legitimate. Secondly, 125 to 43 may seem a real defeat, but the result is very misleading because the FIRS’s vote system is rather peculiar. The system “one federation, one vote” is not applied. The federations that are closer to Spain and therefore against the interests of the Catalan Federation have 4 or 5 votes, whereas the ones that supported us have fewer votes. If we carry out an approximate calculation of how many federations gave their support to Spain and how many to Catalonia, we will see that there is a technical draw. I insist, if we count again by the number of federations, the result is very good. Thirdly, I am very happy with the work done; we have worked a lot and well. The team made up of the General Sports Secretariat, the Catalan Skating Federation, the UFEC and the Pro Catalan Sports Teams Platform has functioned very well and this is good for the future. Now we know a lot more than before and this will emerge in the following battles.
And from now on, what should we do?
The Catalan Skating Federation must decide what to do if it wants to continue fighting for its international recognition. We will respect its decisions and, as always, we will give our support to it. With regard to the more general claim of Catalan Teams, I think that now we are more strengthened than ever before: we have made clear to everybody that our aims are legal and legitimate and the citizens of Catalonia have reiterated their support for official teams. Now, the next step is to win.
Before concluding, from now on will Rome be the reference to work from?
Yes, Rome has taught us which is the adequate waybill to achieve our aims and, furthermore, as I have already said before, thanks to this assembly of the FIRS we have created a unified, hard-working and efficient team that may provide us with much satisfaction in the future. Despite all the hindrances we had to face, despite all the dirty work that has been done from Spain, despite a President of the FIRS extremely hostile with regard to Catalonia, we have obtained satisfactory results. This is the path that we should follow.