After Honduras, Guatemala, and despite being disqualified with apparently newly made up rules, Team Belize beats Panama. You rock Pulu!

Originally Posted by Channel5Belize
Belize wins third COCABA game and beats Panama

[Linked Image] Belize ninety-two, Panama eighty-eight and with that score Belize's unblemished record on the court continued in the COCABA Championship for men. Although Team Belize is not ranked among the top fifty, our dream team defeated Panama despite its ranking as twenty-ninth on the world basketball charts. Team Belize proved too much for Team Panama. Despite rumours of a no show by Team Panama for today's match, the game was off to an interesting start and in the final quarter the score remained close but in the end Belize secured its third win.

Team Belize is hoping to guarantee a spot in next year's Centro Basket Tournament on the way to the 2012 London Olympics. But that might just be forlorn hope for Belize as FIBA's position is still uncertain due to the Belize team fielding five players deemed ineligible. According to information received from our team in Cancun, Belize is merely playing as a visitor and not a competitor. News Five's correspondent, Ava Lovell, spoke with President of the Belize Basketball Federation, Paul Thompson, who says that a formal appeal has been sent out to FIBA Switzerland about this development. Thompson says that a response must be given before the semi-finals of the tournament scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday.

Paul Thompson, President, Belize Basketball Federation
"We received a letter yesterday indicating that the games are unofficial and that they are having us play but it is not official. So that is the status of what they are saying."

Ava Lovell
"So hence the reason for the appeal?"

Paul Thompson
"Exactly, so we are appeal based on that. An appeal has been formally sent to FIBA offices in Switzerland along with payment of a fee for an appeal and we have received acknowledgement of receipt of this appeal from FIBA Secretary General, Mr. Baumann."

Ava Lovell
"Is there any indication as to how long before you get a response?"

Paul Thompson
"No, we haven't gotten any word of how long a response will be, but we indicated in our mail that it is urgent and that we are about to play our third game of the first round and that we are looking forward to moving on to the next round."

Ava Lovell
"Okay, so if a response is not received prior to the semifinals round what would that mean for Belize?"

Paul Thompson
"Right now the status is that the games are unofficial and we want to look at it positively and we believe that we will get a response before game time tomorrow. We will continue on course."

We will keep our ears to the ground in Cancun and make an announcement as soon as Team Belize's status is finalized before semi-final play. Tune into Channel Five's Morning Show Open Your Eyes and News Five for continued coverage of the COCABA Championship for Men from Cancun.

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=24978

What a humiliation for the Spanish Central American majority being beaten by the smallest and only English speaking country! Reason enough to think up some new rules to disqualify the pirate nation. It's the Battle of St. George's Caye all over again with Hon. Dean Barrow in the role of Superintendent Lieutenant-Colonel Barrow commanding the Belizeans during the hostilities.

Originally Posted by Channel5Belize
FIBA rejection of national team forces PM involvement

[Linked Image] The game between Belize and Panama is over, but the tough battle is still looming ahead and it's not even with the Mexican team either. It is the International Basketball Federation's vehemence for claiming that most of the players who were not born in Belize were naturalized citizens, and only one of which would be able to play per game according to FIBA rules. But the players aren't naturalized so that didn't work. And on last night's newscast, we reported on the new age rule that FIBA threw at the team. The fans and supporters cried foul and the prime minister via phone today confirmed that FIBA's new rule is apparently not even in the rule book.

Via Phone: Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"Even a knowledge of the rules can't help you if it turns out that governing bodies will do a number in the way it appears the FIBA body has done a number. I am saying that when I saw the rules afterwards, the rules don't say what the general secretary told me so it seems that we're so much at the mercy of the whims of these international sporting bodies that it's a great pity. I didn't have a copy of the rules with me at the time and so when the Secretary General said the rules said A and the rules said B I was in no position to argue. After I had completed the call, Mr. Ellis and Mr. Murillo had arrived and they brought me a copy of the rules. In a sense it was a pity I wasn't able to speak from knowledge of the rules when I was dialoguing with Mister Baumann. In any event I don't know that it would have made any difference just to put me in a stronger position to argue the case from a position of authority. Mr. Baumann is saying that it has nothing to do with whether these Belizean players are naturalized Belizeans or Belizeans by descent. They accept fully that these players are Belizeans by descent but he's saying that according to the rules if you are entitled to nationality by descent and you don't take it up before you're sixteen then that's a problem in terms of you're playing for, in this case, the Belizean National Team. When I looked at the rules afterwards, the rules say no such thing. In any case we went back and forth. And at the end he said it was not his personal decision. The secretariat or the governing body had met and discussed this issue and the decision was what it was. I asked him-I indicated that we would be seeking to protest and to appeal and I asked him to indicate to the governing body that we really needed for them to keep the matter under review and basically that's how the conversation ended."

The Prime Minister said that the Ministry of Finance is taking up the cost of the appeal and he will do whatever he can to see the issue resolved.

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=24979

And even the Olympic Committee never heard of the rules used to disqualify Belize. The word has it that the rule might date back all the way to Pope Alexander VI.

Originally Posted by Channel5Belize
Olympic Committee says no competition age rule

[Linked Image] The COCABA games in Cancun are the first in a series of competitions that lead to the 2012 Olympics in London. That begs the question, "Are the rules and regulations for a person or team representing Belize at the Olympics any different than the FIBA regulated COCABA games?" That's what News Five Jose Sanchez asked a member of the Olympic Committee today. Not only it seems that the requirements are the same, but there aren't any age requirements for acceptance of nationality.

Yolanda Fonseca, Belize Olympic Committee
"The qualification to go to represent the country is that, first and foremost, you must be a Belizean. If you have a Belizean passport, that is to say that your government has accepted you as a Belizean. So there is nothing that says that you have to show a record that you are naturalized or anything of that sort unless the country has required it. Once you bare the passport for being a Belizean, it is understood that you belong to Belize. The second requirement, that is most important, is the fact that the athlete should not have represented any other country for a minimum of three years."

Jose Sanchez
"Does that mean that athlete can't play in a competition at that country or they have to represent that country at a national level?"

Yolanda Fonseca
"To represent the country itself. For instance, if you're going to be talking about representing a country, say for instance, in the United States. If that team is going to another country to represent the country then that person is affiliated to that country and therefore, they will have to wait three years before they are able to represent another country and of course, there are processes that take place."

Jose Sanchez
"So if it's just on a local team in the country itself�"
/
Yolanda Fonseca[b]
"That is not a requirement. We have a number of people studying in the United States who participate representing their school and that is not a problem."
[b]
Jose Sanchez
"I spoke to the Prime Minister today and he said that what they told him is that they did not accept nationality by the age of sixteen so they can't play. After looking at the rule book, he could not find that rule."

Yolanda Fonseca
"Exactly so. There is no rule that we are aware of where we can say that you have to be sixteen years old as a Belizean to say that you are a Belizean. There is no rule that we know of and we have taken other teams away and we haven't had this presented to us in the past."

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=24980

Live and let live