Poor governance of sports organisation leads to disappearance of observers from public meetings.
EU Athletes recently requested to WADA the right to participate at their next Foundation Board meeting to be held in Paris 15-16 Nov.
Here is below the answer from WADA, received by email 5 Nov
“Thank you for your message regarding attendance at our upcoming meetings taking place in Paris on 15-16 November.
For your information, our Executive Committee meeting is a restricted forum, closed to the public. Our Board meeting on the other hand is public and those wishing to observe are welcome. However, we regret to advise that on this particular occasion, we have had to restrict attendance due to limited space in the meeting room. Indeed, the meeting is being held in one of the National Assembly’s smaller, historic buildings and we have attained maximum room capacity. As a result, we are in a position where we must now decline any requests we receive. That said, please rest assured that should there be a change in numbers, we will let you know.
We apologize but trust you understand the circumstances.
Kind regards”
EU Athletes Board is taking this issue really seriously and EU Athletes President Yves Kummer have recently addressed to Mr David Howman a letter to offer WADA support in staff and resources to find a bigger venue for the meeting or to organise a video link.
As a reminder WADA minutes are not released for 6 months after meetings and observers have to rely on access to be able to monitor progress.
At the same time French players Unions are organising their testing pool players in order for them to give their whereabouts location at the venue of the meeting during the time of the conference.
This situation is not acceptable for EU Athletes and its members representing more than 25.000 professional athletes in Europe.