Controversial decision in Italy after social media “offense”

The Italian Agility scene is buzzing. According to a post in the Facebook group Agility Europe and an Italian group, the reason for this is the exclusion of an athlete from the national team. According to this post, the exclusion is only due to a liked post that was critical of the Italian association ENCI and the governing body Gruppo Cinofilo Cane Sportivo. If this is how it happened, then it would be a pretty severe infringement of freedom of speech and expression on the part of the Italian federation.

The original article was supposedly about the points system for the AWC qualification, which has been the subject of controversy in Italy for years. A qualification system in which, in addition to the qualification results, the team leaders also have a say in the selection of the national team. The original comment from a third party was as follows (translated into English): “I see that arrogance and arrogance in the organization (or in this fake news dog group) continue to be present”. An opinion that was considered an attack by ENCI and the Gruppo Cinofilo Cane Sportivo. The initially mentioned handler is said to have liked this comment on Facebook, whereupon the team management contacted him and asked for a statement. When he confirmed that he had liked the comment out of conviction, he was excluded from the team as a consequence.

The fact that the team leader can take this measure is laid down in the official selection criteria. This states that a team can be excluded if it does not behave respectfully towards a dog, the team leader and the team assistants as well as the organizing committee and the ENCI. According to the federation, this limit has already been exceeded with the like of the mentioned post. The case is strongly reminiscent of a part of the Greek FMBB national team this year, which deliberately refrained from signing a similar paragraph in the selection document for the national FMBB organization.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/383870845005713/posts/7856681474391242/