Being shared on facebook

IvoryTower

What do you think?


"Our daughter Holly won the 3000m in the Tailteann Schools Interprovincials. 1st and 2nd place earn a place on the Irish team who are competing in Swansea on 20th July. When Holly won she was so happy. We were delighted because she really deserved this. She trained 6 days a week for this. She trained when we were on holidays. She has missed concerts and days out with friends in her dedication to her running.

Holly won the Leinster schools. It is on this race that selections for the Tailteanns are made. When holly was on the podium waiting for her medal, she was told she was a guest in the race even though she was told beforehand that she was entered into it by the Leinster team manager who is also President of the Irish Schools Athletics Association. She was also told on the previous Tuesday at the Leinster team training day for the Tailteann in Santry that she would be running in the 3000m.

Holly had to watch while the other girls stood on the podium and got their medals.The girl who came second got Gold,the girl who came third got silver and the girl who came fourth got bronze.
I just want to add the girl who came second didnt want to take the Gold. She wanted Holly to have the Gold.
Holly is devastated. I am so angry that this was allowed to happen to 16 year old child. Those involved should be ashamed of themselves. There is a lot more I could add. But i will leave it at this for now. Thank you for reading. If you would like and share it would be greatly appreciated."

Chivito550

IvoryTower wrote: »

What do you think?


"Our daughter Holly won the 3000m in the Tailteann Schools Interprovincials. 1st and 2nd place earn a place on the Irish team who are competing in Swansea on 20th July. When Holly won she was so happy. We were delighted because she really deserved this. She trained 6 days a week for this. She trained when we were on holidays. She has missed concerts and days out with friends in her dedication to her running.

Holly won the Leinster schools. It is on this race that selections for the Tailteanns are made. When holly was on the podium waiting for her medal, she was told she was a guest in the race even though she was told beforehand that she was entered into it by the Leinster team manager who is also President of the Irish Schools Athletics Association. She was also told on the previous Tuesday at the Leinster team training day for the Tailteann in Santry that she would be running in the 3000m.

Holly had to watch while the other girls stood on the podium and got their medals.The girl who came second got Gold,the girl who came third got silver and the girl who came fourth got bronze.
I just want to add the girl who came second didnt want to take the Gold. She wanted Holly to have the Gold.
Holly is devastated. I am so angry that this was allowed to happen to 16 year old child. Those involved should be ashamed of themselves. There is a lot more I could add. But i will leave it at this for now. Thank you for reading. If you would like and share it would be greatly appreciated."

Surely there’s a way of appealing this if it’s down to an administration error?

Captain Red Beard

Pretty scummy behaviour from the organisers.

IvoryTower

I wonder why she was a guest and I assume guests wouldnt qualify for the team. Might be some info we're missing

dna_leri

Official results show Holly was first in the event and scored 7 points for province.
ISAA handbook (p19) is clear on the SIAB International Selection Criteria and Appeals procedure also that "No guest athletes maybe allowed compete at the Tailteann Games."
https://www.athleticsireland.ie/downloads/eshop/2019_ISAA_Handbook_-_Final.pdf

Much ado about nothing?

Wabbit Ears

The main post is deliberately leaving out the details that explain why she was technically a guest and focusing only on the fact she won. A typical half-truth FB type post.

IvoryTower

yeah i get that feeling, i think the original post has been taken down but other relatives have their own that are still being shared.

It sounds like they done her a favour by letting her race but maybe didn't make it clear that a guest couldn't qualify for the Irish team. The medal thing is silly also, if you guest in any provincial meet you don't get a medal

Chivito550

Somebody spell this out for me because I'm absolutely lost.

If she won the Leinsters to qualify for the Games, then how on earth can she be a guest? Did they just not select her despite winning the provincial championship?

IvoryTower

I wonder is she not from Leinster? Has to be some good reason why she was a guest

Dudda

It could be a number of reasons. Competing previously for Munster. Maybe she was disqualified while under 14 for fighting and banned from Irish team for three years. Different date of birth deadline ( eg 1st January or is it 1st September for schools, etc.) I remember something like this happening a teammate 20 years ago when I was in the community games.


You need to hear both sides of the story. It could be a number of perfectly legit reason.

Murph_D

IvoryTower wrote: »

I wonder is she not from Leinster? Has to be some good reason why she was a guest

Official results suggests she’s Leinster:

http://live.athleticsireland.ie/textfile.txt

Obviously some missing information alright.

jamule

V strange she was down as a guest and probably not explained properly by officials to her or the parents and hence the whinging facebook post.

I'm still pissed off she passed me on the last lap 3k a few weeks ago.

Captain Red Beard

So the fastest girl doesn't qualify. Makes sense.

walshb

I'd wait until the organizers get onto FB whingeing and moaning before making my call...

MichiganIrish

One possibility is that she was eligible to compete and win Leinster schools because her birthday is after July 1 (U-17 on July 1). But for Tailteann Games selection, her birthday has to be after September 1 (to be in alignment with English Schools age group etc for Schools International). So if her birthday was July 2, then could only run as a guest in the Tailteanns and wouldn't be eligible for Schools International selection. At least that's the way it used to be 30 years ago!!

alfja

No idea what the exact situation is with this girl but what the above poster says about different dates for different competitions still applies.
Date for Leinster and All Ireland schools : July 1st
Date for Tailteanns and Schools' International: Sept 1st.
There are always a few unlucky kids who fall between the two dates so could be the case here.

Murph_D

Would this not be well known by all involved? Seems incredible that a kid would line up thinking she was eligible and then found out she wasn't?

karkar athlete

Still haven't worked out the ins and outs of this situation but she's been selected for the SIAB international anyway with 3 athlete's going in the 3km