The General Meeting was held at an express pace, lasting only a few minutes and exceeded two hours. However, the chairman Martin Malík and the general secretary Jan Pauly made no secret of the great disappointment prepared for them by the Moravian Chamber.
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She expressed her disagreement with the proposal to amend the statutes of the FACR. It consisted of extending the current 12-member executive committee to include position number 13, which would be dedicated to women.
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In explaining this change, Jan Pauly referred to the subsidy rules of the Ministry of Education, which, in addition to a number of other assessed values and categories, take into account, among other things, gender conditions in the statutory bodies of sports associations applying for subsidies. According to Pauly’s estimate, mentioned during the General Meeting, this gender element could correspond to the amount of 15-20 million crowns.
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Let us add that the state subsidies for football normally exceed half a billion crowns. And that the Football Association of the Czech Republic has a wife in its leadership, specifically in the position of chairwoman of the Steering Committee for the Czech Republic. And that is Dagmar Damková.
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“But politics has decided today,” Jan Pauly angered the petitioner when his initiative failed. In the Moravian Chamber, a large part of the delegates present abstained on this voting point. It therefore did not express support for the proposal and therefore did not pass it.
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Vote on amendment of the statutes
Czech Chamber
For proposal 113, against none, 2 delegates abstained.
Moravian Chamber
For proposal 28, against 4, 37 delegates abstained.
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The Moravian side seems to have come out of how the proposed amendment to the statutes would redraw the political map in Czech football.
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In the current form of the twelve-member executive committee, Moravia is represented by 4 votes, and professional football by 2 votes. The remaining 6 votes represent the Czech Chamber, including the President.
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“Unfortunately, we did not succeed,” said Jan Pauly, after the Moravian Chamber did not approve the amendment of the statutes, which would introduce the 13th position in the FVR VV for a “compulsory woman”.
Bohemia for 113, against 0, abstained 2
Moravia for 28, against 4, abstained 37#berbrovisklaplo https://t.co/0Djr1ZPGow– Ludek Madl (@LudekMadl) September 15, 2020
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There is a high probability that if the draft statutes passed, Dagmar Damková, the wife of Roman Berbr, would fill a new, thirteenth position on the executive committee in a year. And her current position on the executive committee would be taken by another representative of the Czech Chamber.
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Simply put, the Berbr clan would then have 7 votes against 6 potential rebels from Moravia or the league. We have discussed these issues in more detail here.
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“Unfortunately, we didn’t make it,” Pauly whispered
Former judge Roman Berbr is the Czech vice-chairman of the FACR. The former member of the State Security is known for its despotic tendencies, it is gradually expanding the sphere of its influence from Bohemia to Moravia. He is generally considered to be the most powerful person within the Football Association of the Czech Republic, although the chairman is Martin Malík.
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The “Berbrov camp” disappointed the actions of the Moravian party at the general meeting. In particular, Secretary General Jan Pauly made no secret that the choice of the Moravian Chamber had spoiled his mood. Immediately after counting the voices, he dropped a sentence, which was also picked up by the microphones in the hall: “Unfortunately, we did not succeed.”
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And when the general meeting was to end, Pauly also provoked an open conflict under the item Conclusion. “I will not forgive myself for not saying here that this decision deprived football of its finances. Each delegate has a duty and a responsibility to football. And she wasn’t satisfied this time, “Pauly was angry.
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“I consider it a fatal failure. We are clearly not ready for the Western world yet. We will continue to be fools, due to the nonsensical quarrels we have with each other, “said General Secretary Jan Pauly to the Moravian Chamber.
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He was joined by the chairman of the association Martin Malík, who publicly called on the Moravian vice-chairman Zdeněk Zlámal to explain the discrepancy between the fact that the Moravian representatives in the executive committee did not contradict the draft statutes in any way. And at the general meeting, the Moravians rejected the proposal.
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“It was not specifically dissected in the executive committee,” Zlámal responded. “Things are still being solved for us without us. Maybe that’s enough. “
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“It’s not enough,” Jan Pauly hissed into the microphone.
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“We recommended MSFL clubs and Moravian divisions to abstain from voting, we did not tell them to oppose them,” Zdeněk Zlámal, on behalf of the Moravian party.
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Chairman Martin Malík was also angry at the press conference after the General Meeting that the debate on the whole matter was not held at the meeting of the Executive Committee. But that the Moravian opinion manifested itself only at the general meeting.
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“I think it shows the quality of the officials,” he dug into his Moravian colleagues from the executive committee. “If we have people here who can no longer present the opinions and attitudes of their colleagues, then it sucks,” Malík did not avoid a harsher expression.
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According to him, the incorporation of a “compulsory woman” into the football government is only a matter of time. “None of us will escape this change,” Malík said.
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“It’s a standard thing, common across Europe. We have probably not reached such maturity yet. I hope that the result of today’s vote is just a bad joke or a misunderstanding. And at the next General Meeting, this wording of the amendment to the Articles of Association will be approved, “said Secretary General Jan Pauly.
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Long-term feud: Bohemia versus Moravia
On the Czech-Moravian principle, the Football Association of the Czech Republic, which previously operated under the name of the Czech-Moravian Football Association, has been built since the establishment of an independent republic.
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The Moravian Chamber is weaker in numbers at the General Meeting, but historically, according to the wording of the original Articles of Association, it had the right to block the election of the Chairman. In other words: both chambers, ie the Czech and Moravian chambers, had to agree with the election of the chairman of the football association.
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This led to the fact that the chairman was elected in a difficult way several times, most recently in 2017. At that time, delegates from the Czech Republic were for Martin Malík, while Moravia preferred Petr Fousek.
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In December 2017, Grigory Surkis arrived in Nymburk at the FACR Extraordinary General Meeting, who, on behalf of FIFA and UEFA, openly threatened the Moravian Chamber that it would impose forced administration on Czech football if it did not amend the statutes that would block the association’s election.
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Moravia then gave in, since then, in the 3rd round of the presidential election, the simple sum of votes has been viewed across the plenary session of the General Meeting, regardless of the division into chambers. According to these new rules, Martin Malík was also elected at that time.
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The current proposal to amend the statutes, which would add a “compulsory woman” to the structure of elected functions as another figure, whose election could be pushed by the Czech Chamber according to the same rules as the chairman, but has been blocked by Moravia today.
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