Opacity in the volleyball federation, elections under suspicion and withdrawal of subsidies

Spanish volleyball has been divided for four years.

Since the last electoral process in 2020, in which the ' Ahora Vóley ' candidacy, led by the president of the Catalan federation, Maribel Zamora, lost by one vote - 34 to 35 - against the president of the Royal Spanish Federation of Volleyball (RFEVB), Agustín Martín Santos, and filed a contentious-administrative case against the Administrative Court of Sports (TAD) for irregularities in the census.

For Martín, everything is in order and there are no irregularities;

For the opposition there is an underlying problem after which “retaliation” was taken.

A ruling from the Court of First Instance number 15 of Madrid considers that the federation and its president misapplied regulation 101 in a General Assembly in 2021 and agrees with five territorial federations that reported the case: various issues of the day that they had no amendment or alternative proposal, and the court declared them, therefore, null.

Meanwhile, licenses skyrocket: 95,438 in 2022, above athletics (92,437), tennis (83,521) or swimming (66,775), and also very close to handball (98,861).

But in terms of results, especially at the international level, Spanish volleyball is bleeding: since 2000 there has been no Spanish representation in the Olympic Games, and the team's last great achievement was gold in the 2007 European Championship.

It all goes back to the 2020 elections. Zamora, who had just been vice president of the Spanish federation, proposes a change of course with her group.

“Agustín had positive times and transformations, but now a change of roles is needed,” justifies the Catalan president.

A turn motivated by the lack of a project, they consider.

David Lechón, president of the Aragonese federation, feels that the territorial federations are growing, but he finds a “glass ceiling in the Spanish one.”

“There is no ambition, there is no investment, there is no project, and the players are not attracted to representing our team.

It is not visible on television either,” shares Lechón.

Opinion supported by Dolors Besné, president of the Balearic federation: “At the national level there is no impact, and it is very difficult to find sponsors.”

Something that the president of the national team does not share: “We are gradually returning to our 2006 peak. We are already regulars at the European Championship, and in beach volleyball we are at the forefront.”

“We are at historic growth numbers.

Are there no results at the international level?

We cannot invent a golden generation,” adds José Ángel Luna, president of the Galician federation and close to Martín Santos.

In front of it there are other territories that want to “set up an exciting project”;

“We have a group of 13 federations, with Rafa Pascual, a reference, or with Oscar Novillo.

But the elections arrive and we see strange things: censuses that mysteriously swell, teams that appear out of nowhere...", shares Lechón, who is part of Zamora's group.

During the 2020 electoral process, the plaintiffs were struck by the inclusion of 878 people who were not in the initial census.

They consider that at least 296 did not meet the requirements.

“There were people who appeared in the census who were not in the federation database.

We received messages from people who appeared on the vote-by-mail census without requesting it.

Or a team at a school in Valladolid of players residing in the Canary Islands and that the school reported did not exist,” explains Zamora.

The president of the volleyball federation clarifies that the increase from one census to another is common, and assures that the “Electoral Board and the TAD detected that everything was fine.”

“When we published the initial census we did not have even half of the licenses reported.

We didn't do anything illegal.

Each one dumps the licenses at the rate they can.

They make the anecdote, like the Valladolid team, a reality,” adds Luna.

The TAD excluded eight people from the census, although it rejected the rest of the challenges.

But in court – the judge assesses in his order that the electoral process does not “stand out precisely for its transparency” – he ruled to roll back the TAD resolution, forcing the issuance of a new resolution with a more exhaustive motivation that he has not yet issued.

Currently, the case is awaiting a ruling from the National Court after the Higher Sports Council (CSD) and the federation presented an appeal.

More information

When playing with Spain doesn't pay off

“With the lawsuits, the retaliation came quickly,” shares Zamora.

“Before 2021 there were subsidy criteria;

The distribution was based on licenses, Super League teams, state competition... They were administrative and sporting criteria, with objective data,” adds the Catalan president.

Now the organization of events - awarded by the RFEVB - is valued, referee collaboration and a concept that not even the president himself knows how to explain: "collaboration and negative aspects."

A change in the criteria that has modified what some of the federations had been receiving: the Catalan one, for example, went from being the territorial one with the most subsidies in 2020, with more than 25,000 euros, to not receiving anything in 2022. Aragon has also lost 65% of subsidy, the Balearic Islands 76% and the Valencian Community 77%.

They all have a zero in “collaboration and negative aspects.”

Others, such as Castilla y León – of which Martín is manager, although he does not believe it is necessary to “get into those matters” – have gone from receiving just over 5,000 euros to receiving around 35,000.

It has a 10, the maximum score, in “collaboration and negative aspects.”

“Since the 2020 elections, we have observed a change in position regarding the territorial elections, in which some are harmed and others benefit,” says Ruiz.

Antonio Sangrador, president of the Castilla y León federation, defends himself: “We have benefited, but because we have organized many competitions, and that entails some expenses.”

For Martín, the criteria are “totally objective” and no one has opposed them.

This 2024 there will be another election for the presidency of the RFEVB, and Martín assures that he will not run.

“The most serious thing is that volleyball has been divided.

I hope everything is resolved for the good of the sport: it is gaining a lot of momentum, and in women it is a leader,” concludes Dolores Besné.

The project, meanwhile, is in question.

And volleyball, fragmented.

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