EIHA voted against the affiliation of the Elite League
30th June 2003The Directors of IHUK today named the apparent decision of the EIHA to accept affiliation from the Elite League as being "very worrying and totally against their understanding of the stance of the EIHA from three previous IHUK board meetings".
Stuart Robinson, Chairman of IHUK, said, "If this is true we will be asking for an explanation from the EIHA and confirmation that this is their official stance. What astounds the other Directors of IHUK is that fact that the EIHA had voted against the affiliation of the Elite League. We, therefore, can not allow any representative on the Board to act in a way that would undermine or affect the running of IHUK business. We believe that there are several issues that need to be clarified here, in particular the action of the Director who sits on the board of IHUK with a vote and does not act in the absolute duty of good faith in running that business. Given the complete about turn from this association, we would question further whether this Director has acted out of personal gain, collateral interest or if indeed they have acted in the best interest of the Company (IHUK)"
Robertson also confirmed that at the past three meetings, IHUK have met and deliberated over the affiliation of the Elite League and had used the following criteria in their assessment: provision of any existing structure in which to play Ice Hockey; financial stability of any of the proposed member clubs; confirmation of sustainability of the proposed member clubs; investigation into any Ice Hockey related debts from previous seasons and commonality of ownership resulting in high gearing for any proposed club/owner.
Robertson continued, "Further to this we have taken our meeting with the Sports Minister very seriously and believe that additional fragmentation within the sport will not imbue credibility and certainly curtail any funding in the future. We looked at various criteria and were not convinced that a viable long term plan could be adhered to by the proposed Clubs. We also carried out due diligence and some of the proposed Directors of these Clubs did not fare well and would contravene our rule of Ice Hockey related debts. Added to the fact that the last League to collapse was the ISL of which some of the Directors of the Elite League were members. As an Association we can not condone poor financial management, judiciary ignorance or more importantly the apparent reticence to service any debt once a Company is in trouble. Furthermore the EIHA have been privy to any reports and due diligence carried out for any of our meetings. To affiliate any League that has members with existing Ice Hockey related debts is to condone their actions, at some stage we all have to go back to basics and try to unify the sport not just in terms of playing structure but financial culpability for all and we are pleased to confirm the IIHF are in full agreement and support of our actions"
In the light of the assumed actions of the EIHA, a further statement will be issued from IHUK tomorrow.