FIVB leaders continue to ignore player registration fraud

Allegations were first made by the president of the self-established World Ethics Commission, Hans-Peter Graf. He accused Dominican Christóbal Marte Hoffiz, president of the North, Central and Caribbean Confederation of Volleyball (Norceca) and second vice president of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), of using his ranked positions to falsify documents that allowed the participation of overage female players in juvenile tournaments. Graf said that he found at least 30 such cases between 2001 and 2006. When asked, Christóbal Marte Hoffiz refused to comment.

After the first allegations, Primera Hora journalist José Ayala Gordián asked and received from the Puerto Rican Volleyball Federation (FPV) copies of the official registration sheets for different Norceca competitions. These documents showed contradictory birthdates for at least four players.

One of them, Cindy Rondón, was registered as being born on 12 November 1987 for the V Women’s Pan American Cup in 2006. However, that same year, in the Norceca Continental Junior Championships (U-20), the official registration form says that Cindy Rondón was born on 12 November 1988. This is also the date used by Cindy Rondón for the World Championships in 2006 and the World Grand Prix in 2006. But in the transfer letter from the Dominican Volleyball Federation (Fedevoli) to play in the Puerto Rican league, her birth year is 1987. And, in an interview with the newspaper El Nuevo Día in Puerto Rico, Cindy Rondón was quoted as saying that she was born in 1987.

“The rule states that the player could not have 19 years of age in 2006 and had to be born after 1 January 1988,” said Humberto Pagán, coordinator for International Affairs for the Puerto Rican Volleyball Federation, and member of the control committee for the Continental Junior Championships (U-20).

There were also irregularities with the birthdates of Dominican players Esther Reyes, Altagracia Mambrú and Bethania de la Cruz. The difference in the birthdates permitted their overage participation in those tournaments. In almost all cases there was one year of difference. The worst case was with Bethania De la Cruz. Her transfer letter from Fedevoli to play in the Puerto Rican League claims that she was born on 13 May 1987. Her birthday as she was registered for the 2006 Pan American Cup is 13 June 1987. But in the other tournaments mentioned above Bethania de la Cruz was registered as being born in 13 May 1989.

The initial reaction of Fedevoli’s president, Ramón García, when interviewed by José Ayala Gordián, was to ask for copies of the documents obtained by Primera Hora – although he already had those documents as Fedevoli’s president – and promised to answer the questions on the following day. However, when called, as agreed, Ramón García refused to address the irregularities shown in the documents.

“I’m not going to comment anything about this issue,” Ramón García told Primera Hora. “I will let the journalists do and say whatever they want. I’m not going to give any opinion on this, because I see this as gossip to harm a serious institution like this one [Fedevoli]. I see that a lot of people don’t want to collaborate with me because they want to continue with this gossip.”

If the birthdates were indeed falsified, Puerto Rico could claim the silver medal it didn’t win at the 2006 Continental Junior Championships (U-20) after losing to a Dominican team that used the alleged overage players Cindy Rondón and Bethania de la Cruz. The Puerto Rican Volleyball Federation could also request an investigation. However, the president of the Puerto Rican Volleyball Federation and member of the FIVB board of administrators, Carlos Beltrán, didn’t show interest in the allegations. Instead, he blamed the controversy on Jean Pierre Seppey, former FIVB secretary-general, who has collaborated with the Ethics Commission investigation.

“For me, someone who is [working] with me and approves things, and after leaving comes with accusations, for me that person doesn’t have any credibility,” said Carlos Beltrán.