FMBB 2024: Greek Association of Belgian Shepherd Dogs bans most of its own reigning World Champion team

Just a few days before the start of the World Championships for Belgian Shepherd Dogs (FMBB) in Italy, the Greek Association of Belgian Shepherd Dogs suspended more than half of the nine-member Agility team. The reason for the short-term suspension of the affected teams is said to have been a discrepancy in a waiver. The Greek Association is said to have only presented this to the teams for signature on March 22nd. This is strange because the payment deadline for participation and various travel costs expired more than 50 days ago. Those affected are Alexandra Papada, Themistoklis Orkopoulos, Nikiforos Orfanakos, Pavlos Paraskevas and George Serlidakis. Three of them won the World Championship title in the team competition in Romania last year.

In the waiver, the participating teams should agree that both the team management, the team assistant, and the entire board are released from all liability and for any damage that they may cause before, during, or after the competition. The document is also said to have contained other controversial points. The team members of the Greek-Belgian national Agility team, who have now been suspended, informed the association about the discrepancies after receiving the waiver. On the one hand, due to the sometimes vague and legally difficult statements, as well as the short time at which they were sent.

The affected athletes were informed on April 11th of the possible exclusion from the team if the waiver was not signed in a timely manner. On April 14th, qualified teams Proactive consulted a lawyer and prepared a text in which they explained why they could not sign the version they had received and which points did not pose a problem. The association showed little willingness to talk and imposed a ban on the affected teams on April 18th. Teams that have already paid a significant sum for the tournament and travel expenses. Despite this bad news, some of the banned athletes will still travel to Italy and support the remaining team members and friends from other countries. This whole action sheds a very unfortunate light on the Greek Association of Belgian Shepherd Dogs. The suspension of the five teams was also sharply criticized on social media.

Source: Alexandra Papada, Nikiforos Orfanakos