Battle lost definitively… despite being right and being the injured party. Although the existence of an improper alignment was proven – a fact initially recognized by the Single Judge of the Competition Committee of the Spanish Federation – the CB Canarias has seen how their protests against being the affected party in the Brimah case have fallen on deaf ears.
The situation dates back to December 13, 2024, on the occasion of the match that the aurinegro team plays against Valencia in La Fonteta, in a duel that was postponed at the time due to the damage that affected the Levantine capital days before, and that Pedro MartÃnez's team ended up winning by 96-81. In the dispute of that clash the Taronja team fielded Amida Brimah, who had already played on the same matchday 6 when he was still in the ranks of Manresa.
In this regard, article 35.3 of the ACB Competition Regulations read as follows: “In no case may a player who has already played with another ACB Club that same day of the League be fielded in the postponed match.”
The first setback
On January 10, the Single Judge of Hispaniola recognizes and accredits said improper alignment, but it “validates it on the basis of an ACB certificate issued three days after the match was played.” This later date was one of the arguments put forward by the Canary Islands for a ruling in their favor, although For the Single Judge, it was important that the ACB itself prove that said authorization document already existed before the match was held.
Furthermore, it was also taken into consideration that Valencia had acted in the belief of the legality of Brimah's alignmentsince the ACB had “generated an action of authority that excludes any disciplinary reproach” against the Taronja team.
This defect in form is due to an error in the competition's computer program. in charge of approving the players' files before each match. The generation of these valid certificates is guaranteed by the signature of the Sports and Competition Director of the ACB, as specified by the Single Judge in his file.
Neither Appeal… and to the TAD
Far from crossing your arms, The Canary Islands went to the Appeal Committeewhich also did not attend to the Aurinegra protest, proceeding to archive the proceedings on March 6. Given this, the La Laguna entity only had the option of the TAD (Administrative Court of Sports) available, and the island club raised its appeal to the aforementioned establishment.
In that letter to the TAD, the Canary Islands considered that Valencia cannot be exempted from disciplinary responsibility.. And he did it for several reasons. The first one The Levantine team never requested prior authorization neither the ACB nor the FEB to align Brimah. Also that it did not exist any authorization before the match confirming the validity of the player's lineupsince the only certificate presented by Valencia was generated three days after the match, so it cannot serve as a basis to justify legitimate confidence prior to the match. Likewise, the island entity emphasizes that the certificate issued by the ACB also dates from that same December 16.
For this reason, the Canary Islands, and clinging to art. 28.1 of Law 40/2015, considers that there is responsibility of the club in the lineup, for which it requested to issue a new resolution in which it requested, as a sanction, the loss of the match against Valencia and the corresponding fine for improper alignment of Brimah.
In the same direction
Faced with this movement, the TAD asked the ACB for a report on the matter and in its conclusions what it did was issue a kind of ratification of what had already been dictated by the Single Judge of Hispaniola. First of all, recognize that it is “an undisputed fact that the player had breached art. 35.3 of the competition regulations”, failing to comply with improper alignment.
When it comes to influencing the club's infringing responsibility, The TAD noted in its resolution that “the ACB understands that Valencia relied on legitimate trust in the organizer of the match.” and that this certified the possible alignment of the player, in addition to the fact that the web platform allowed him to be included in the final roster without notifying any incident.” Therefore, the TAD adheres to the principle of legitimate confidenceputting as a premise that “the belief by the interested party of effective compliance with the normatively required requirements so as not to incur improper alignment.”
No disciplinary consequence
In summary, For the TAD, the club's actions were covered by up to three actions corresponding to the organizer. which allowed the player to line up, so it is therefore not possible to attribute malicious or culpable conduct to Valencia, and in the absence of said elements, any responsibility, and, therefore, disciplinary consequence.
The file issued by the Sports Administrative Court also states that “the appellant (the Canary Islands) alleges that you have been asked for a diabolical test which is to prove that prior to the match there was no authorization from the ACB”, prevailing in this case the ACB's version that the document could have been downloaded before and after the match, and that in both cases Brimah was listed as “of possible alignment”.
Throughout, The TAD decided to dismiss the appeal presented at the time by Félix Hernández, when he was still president of the CB Canariasagainst the Appeal resolution, therefore confirming the decision of the Single Competition Judge, who at the time dismissed the ordinary disciplinary file 11/2024-2025.
The wrong offender
In short, all the bodies that the CB Canarias turned to agreed with the island team in which Valencia incurred an improper lineup in their match on December 13, 2024, but left Valencia unpunished. A sanction that, if it had occurred, would have caused the Canarias to have the home court factor in a hypothetical semifinals – although instead of having faced Joventut in the quarterfinals they would have met Granca.
In these Competition, Appeal and TAD decisions, the ACB is also held responsible for that error in the computer license validation system. for the match in question. However, the Canarian appeal was directed towards Valencia and not towards the Association of Clubs.
The judicial route
In that sense, the entity now chaired by Aniano Cabrera would have had the possibility of continuing with your processand presenting a contentious-administrative appeal before the Central Contentious-Administrative Court. Seeing how the sports judges have analyzed the case, and also based on some similar precedent, there would have been serious options that the ordinary justice system would end up agreeing with the La Laguna club and compensate it, financially, for the damage suffered.
On the other hand, and given that the ACB is an institution with which it has a close relationship in many ways, the Canary Islands have decided not to take another step in their particular fight. The Brimah case, therefore, ended up dead in the TAD.
Via: The Day – The Opinion of Tenerife
