Less than a week ago, it was reported that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) had ordered the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to allow Russia to return to the Ice Hockey World Championships. The ruling was objectionable in every respect, prompting the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, through its chairman, to issue the following statement:
“We strongly condemn Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and in our view, the current circumstances do not permit Russia or Belarus to participate in international ice hockey.”
As a practical measure, the Finnish Ice Hockey Association decided that it would not play against Russia in future World Championship tournaments. Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the Czech Republic have adopted the same position, meaning that the Nordic countries quickly established a united front. In addition, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Tuesday that Russia would not be allowed to participate in the Under-20 World Championships, which will be held in Edmonton and Red Deer around the turn of the year.
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The CAS ruling was made by a three-member panel consisting of Giulio Palermo (Italy), Ismail Selim (Egypt) and Mark Hovell (United Kingdom). Their reasoning was that the IIHF had failed to provide sufficient evidence of security threats, as required by its own rules, to justify continuing Russia’s exclusion from the competitions.
That argument may be valid in itself, but it also leads to a crisis in international ice hockey. If the decisions now taken remain in force, Russia is quite likely to win the World Championship gold medal by default, as several of the leading hockey nations will forfeit their games against it. It is even possible that the final will never be played if Russia and one of the boycotting countries qualify for it.
It also remains to be seen how Russia’s participation will affect the willingness of the biggest stars in the sport – those playing in the NHL – to take part in the World Championships. After a long playing season, they may well find the prospect less than appealing and prefer to go on holiday rather than take part in what, following the CAS ruling, could become a deeply controversial and farcical competition.
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At a more general level, this case can be seen as a conflict between the legal system and political decision-making – a conflict whose possibility is built into all constitutional democracies and, apparently, international institutions as well. We are likely to see similar conflicts in other sports, too. Cross-country skiing, an important sport for Finns, is due to get underway at the end of this month.
In that sport, the Finnish government has adopted a firm position and is seeking to prevent visas from being issued to Russian athletes planning to compete in Finland. However, the decision-making process may not be completed in time, meaning that we may once again see numerous Russian competitors at the opening event of the World Cup season.
If that happens, Vladimir Putin’s aggressive war policy will receive indirect but, at the level of principle, highly significant support from the international legal system. As a result, domestic pressure within Russia to bring its war of aggression against Ukraine to an end will be further diminished.
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None of this does any credit to international justice, nor does it contribute in any way to reducing human suffering. On the contrary, the CAS ruling amounts to indirect support for Vladimir Putin and a slap in the face to his increasingly murderous war policy, which is now focused more and more on killing Ukrainian civilians.
That is why I cannot help feeling that CAS has failed to familiarise itself with the wise words of Olaus Petri, dating back to the 16th century:
“What is neither just nor reasonable cannot be law.”
Instead, its approach seems to confirm the observation made by another Swede, Axel Oxenstierna, who famously remarked:
“My son, if only you knew with how little wisdom the world is governed.”
Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Supercell’s Ban: The Sanction That Hit Russians the Hardest
Which one should be excluded from the Olympics?
A stupid thief and vandalizing celebrators
