Recently, we had the chance to talk with the Olympic Handball Ireland president, Fintan Lyons, about the presidency elections and many other subjects, however, today we are going to focus only on the presidency elections.
To get to know more about the organization, Olympic Handball Ireland is the governing body for Olympic handball, also known as Handball, in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is a member of the European Handball Federation (EHF) and recognized by the Irish Sports Council, Olympic Council of Ireland, and the International Handball Federation (IHF) as the sole governing body for the sport of Olympic handball on the island.
Since 2008, Fintan Lyons has been the president of the Irish Olympic Handball Association, that has been rebranded into Olympic Handball Ireland this year in January. For 16 years has been responsible for the sport on the island of Ireland, however, there are open questions that has been discussed within the club's members about the last 2 presidency elections that did not happen.
For a better understanding to everyone, based on the Olympic Handball Ireland (OHI) constitution, it is stated that “ the term of office of each Board member shall be three years” which means the presidency elections were as follows:
2008 - 2011 (First Term) - Fintan Lyons
2011-2014 (Second Term)- Fintan Lyons
2014-2017 (Third Term) - Fintan Lyons
2017-2020 (Fourth Term) - Fintan Lyons
2020-2023 (Fifth Term) - Fintan Lyons ( no election happened)
2023 - 2026 (Sixth Term) - Fintan Lyons (no election happened)
What happened to the 2020 and 2023 elections that were supposed to take place? Keep reading to discover the president's explanations.
Last year supposted to be the presidency election. Also, in 2020 your position as the president was not open to the clubs, not even to mention publicly in the website or social media. What do you say about that?
"That is incorrect. Whenever a position is due for… whenever you reach the end of your term, you have to step down, and then you're re-elected."
That's the way it works, but what happened? Because it didn't happen, not even last year. I can't say because I haven't been involved in 2020 which I'm sure about it, because the clubs members told me and showed me information, that actually didn't happen either.
"I think I've got to suggest, I pass you over to Michael. Michael can send you a copy of the minutes from last year. (refeering to the AGM) The minutes will show what activities took place, when, and in particular about elections, because we're all, like… The point people don't seem to get is that we have to comply with a governance code.
Governance Code, which includes ethics, which is issued by the government. Right? If we don't comply with the governance code, we don't get any public money, we don't get any funding.
So, when people accuse us of not doing things, it's usually puzzling to me. It's always about something that's years ago. It's never something about contemporary.
If somebody wants to complain about a meeting, if somebody wants to say, "I dispute the minutes of the AGM", then that is open to them to do so."
Okay, so I'm coming back again. Last year I was here involved. Your position was not publicly for re-election. What happened? Because you can't really say that it was done because it was not.
"The only thing I can think of is that if you go back to the meeting, what you will see is that Michael would have said something to the effect that we had no nominations for president."
But the presidency was not an open position, was not announced. How can you have any?
"No, you're elected for a number of terms, and you don't have to get elected every single term. That's the way it works."
How come the Technical Director position was open last year and announced through email to the clubs, but not the presidency position?
"So, after a number of terms, you have to step down, right? But the point is... Look, you have to check this with Michael. Michael will give you all the information you need here. It's all publicly available in the minutes of our AGM."
Sir, I've been to that meeting!
"I rely on.. Look, we are a publicly funded national governing body. That's what we are, a publicly funded national governing body.
So you seem to be... I'm not saying you personally are being critical, but you seem to be saying to me that there are criticisms of the way we run this board, and criticisms about the way we run the operation and that's fine. That is fair. People are entitled to be critical. That's up to them. You talked the last time, we spoke about constructive criticism..."
...well, constructive criticism is about being transparent and yourself as a federation, you are not. Because I attended that meeting, and I don't have the need to go back to the AGM minutes because nothing has been mentioned in regards to the re-election of the president. What was mentioned was about the re-election of the Tehnical Director position. So you can't tell me that I have to go back to AGM minutes because I've been there.
"Look, I can't answer the specific question you're asking because I have to look up the minutes myself. But, you know, there are terms, and there are… We have a four-year term..."
It's a three-year term, I've seen the constitution!
"... you're no longer eligible and what I'm saying to you is, more than likely in my next term, I will have to go."
After 16 years, sir!
"Bear with me. For the good of the board, it's good if the next guy or the next person is ready to step into that role. But in order to have that happen, I'm working as hard as I can to promote and develop the sport in Ireland. Now, for some reason, we can differ about how we go about that. But I would hope we're all on the same page, that we want the sport to develop faster.
If somebody comes along to me and says, “Look, we think it'll develop faster with beach handball and here's our plan", then that's great. It gives us something to work with.
If somebody comes along to me and says, “Well, we think it's going to develop faster if we develop beach handball”, but there's no plan. I don't know what I'm going to do."
Sir, I'm returning to the idea… Last year, you were supposed to step back from the position, letting the people in to see who wants to join the presidency, who wants to run for candidacy. But you did not do that. So you can't tell me now, because it's actually the people, the clubs who had to remember that fact. That they had actually to ask you as the federation , “Hey guys, I'm thinking to be the president! Can I take the president position?” It's not okay.
We're going to the Technical Director position of Andrea Ongaro, a position that actually was announced to the clubs through the emails, but not publicly to attract more interested people, but in this case, the presidency was not announced to the clubs.
"You're the only person that said this to me, to my knowledge, to anybody else."
I talked with people last season, last year, and they said, “Oh yeah, this year is the presidency election, but we're waiting the OHI to let us know.” But you did not.
"Look, at this point now, this is crazy. There are written records of meetings. We have to issue our articles of association, say that we have to issue notice about the AGM and any elections that are held. Six weeks, I think it is, before the actual meeting, right? So six weeks before the meeting, we issue to the club secretaries the minutes of the previous meeting. We give them the agenda. We tell them where it's on. So they need to tell the people that they need to tell to come along to the meetings. This has always been the way.
It's not like we've changed this. It's not like it's changed. It has never, ever changed. It's been the same since I've been involved in handball .
So the thing, I think, about your attendance and so on, I can't comment on what you think you saw.
I can only say to you, it's in nobody's interest that we will not do things correctly. Because if we didn't do things correctly, then somebody could complain to Sport Ireland and we would lose our funding. There has never been a complaint about the sport. There has never been a complaint about the governance of the organization. Alright, that's all I'm saying."
The above discussion, accurately reflects the flow of our conversation regarding the presidency, happened a few days ago.
Despite the fact that was mentioned at the beginning, "whenever you reach the end of your term, you have to step down, and then you're re-elected", this fact changed throughout our conversation to other reasons.
What is seems from this conversation is that there was no need to make the clubs members know about the re-election as “you don't have to get elected every single term” and that the clubs had to remind to the board about it, however, how that can be possible for a governing body responsible for the sport of Olympic Handball on the island of Ireland and that become compliant with the principles and practices of the Government’s National Sports Policy, more precisely to the Governance Code for Sport that is a set of guidelines and principles from where is explaining in the 5th principle the following:
"Principle 5. Behaving with integrity
Being honest, fair and independent;
Understanding, declaring and managing conflicts of interest and conflicts of loyalties;
Protecting and promoting our organization’s reputation.” (Source: Governance Code for Sport, A Code of Practice for Good Governance of Sport Organisations in Ireland)
The reason Sport Ireland has such a policy is that “can ensure that all funded organizations have appropriate governance structures in place. It offers your organization a lot of room to decide how it should act while following the principles of good governance.”
Also is stated that “In the past, some boards failed to use good practice when governing their organizations. When organizations don’t use good governance and run into difficulty, it can shatter public confidence and trust in the sector as a whole. In contrast, other organizations have showed us how good governance achieves results, which gives us confidence and encouragement to follow their example.”
The Code of Practice explains that the “Decisions made by the board must be transparent and explained clearly to the public. This transparency should be clearly evident within your organization’s Comply or Explain Form. Advocates of the rules-based model of governance can sometimes see this principles-based approach as evasive. Ironically, it is harder for boards to ‘comply or explain’ as the veracity of their explanations for divergence from recommended practices is then open to public scrutiny. This means that the board is putting its very reputation on the line.
Principles-based governance is most effective when it operates in an ethical culture environment – an environment that is consciously nurtured by its leaders. The Governance Code addresses how ethical leadership should be formed. It outlines the roles, duties and responsibilities of all those who sit on boards and management committees of sports organizations. It provides a set of guiding principles for governance, as well as recommended practices that allow leaders to foster ethical governance in an organization. For this to happen, we, as community groups, non-profit organizations, sports bodies, charities, clubs and associations, need to adopt the Code and follow its recommended practices.”
We suggest you to get familiar with the Governance Code for Sport, A Code of Practice for Good Governance of Sport Organisations in Ireland, for a better understanding and keep in mind that Olympic Handball Ireland is recognized as a type B Organization.
Even the presidency position was not announced in 2020 and 2023, confirmed by the club members and suggested by the president to check the AGM announcements as did happen, down below, you can check the AGM notices and the agenda of both meetings.
Within the notice of the AGM in 2020 was announced: "The Board of the Irish Olympic Handball Association wish to announce that the positions of Honorary Treasurer and Technical Director are up for re-election.", while in 2023 "The Technical Director of the Irish Olympic Handball Association, Mr. Andrea Ongaro is seeking re-election and has been nominated by the Board of the IOHA."
Also, you can find down below the Governance Code for Sport Comply or Explain Form and OHI Statement of Compliance.
The president mentioned, "I can't comment on what you think you saw." However, this is not my interpretation, it's based on what I heard and see during the entire meeting of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) that took place on November 12, 2023. Furthermore, we have detailed all the subjects discussed in that meeting in our article here.
Despite the fact that the presidency position was not open and announced among the clubs beforehand, the current president says that. "Michael (reffering to the secretary), would have said something to the effect that we had no nominations for president.", however, once again, it was not mentioned not even to see who would be interested to candidate.
The Governance Code of Sport specifically states that contracts and employment policies need to be in place, covering various aspects such as recruitment, induction, and supervision, among others. These same policies should also apply to volunteers involved.
Regarding the announcement of the president's position, it did not occur, similar to other positions within the OHI that are not made public on official channels, open for applications.
Without a formal recruitment process for OHI positions, and instead opting to directly appoint a person without undergoing typical hiring procedures such as advertising the job, accepting applications, and conducting interviews, does this seem normal? To a small handball nation, how important is the inclusion in the development of the sport?
Is it normal not to announce the presidential election and keep the position for yourself, claiming no one wanted to stand or contest volunteers?
The lack of transparency and communication, raises questions about the impact on trust in OHI, as well as engagement and participation among members.
Are club members valued and taken into consideration in all the decisions made within the organization, and how can these kinds of decisions influence and retain people within the sport?
Will there be an open presidential election this year, one year apart from when it was supposed to happen? Will the candidates who have shown interest within their clubs so far, be able to apply for it?
As it was stated already by the president "I would hope we're all on the same page, that we want the sport to develop faster".
We're committed to openness and integrity within the sport. It's time for action. Raise your voice, demand transparency, and drive positive change. Every voice counts. Let's come together to ensure fairness and honesty in our federation and be part of the solution.
Stand up for what's right and help build a better federation for all!
Such a pitty that all you do is talk bad about OHI - and don’t offer your skills to help the sport, volunteering to improve the sport with your skills.
I suppose it is easier to talk and waste your time rather than be brave and offer help to make the sport develop within the country.