It is an epilogue that smells of sulfur. The last match of the regular season of the Magnus League ice hockey championship for Anglet promises to be tense. The Hormadi will host Rouen this Saturday March 5 (8:30 p.m.) at the Barre ice rink. The date was set after a conciliation meeting with the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) on Thursday 24 February. Relations between the two clubs have indeed been very cold since their first confrontation in Anglet on November 30 and the cancellation of the Basque victory after the Normans complained. Relationships that have further soured since. Will the ice be broken at the La Barre ice rink on the occasion of this last meeting of the regular phase? It’s unlikely.
No special safety device
On the side of Hormadi, we refuse to add oil to the fire, already well fueled in recent weeks, but we don’t lose our memory either. And given the recent past between the two clubs, the security service will certainly be a little more on the alert than usual, especially around the visitors’ bench and the part of the stand which overlooks it. But there will be no special device, we say on the side of the Basque club which does not intend to play psychosis.
To understand the atmosphere of this match, you have to go back to November 30. The two teams face each other in Anglet in an advanced Magnus League match. Hormadi has indeed agreed to move the meeting scheduled for December to allow Rouen to calmly compete in the European Cup. We play the last seconds of the game. The Basques lead 2-1. Rouen equalize, but the goal is finally refused by the refereeing trio. The siren on the La Barre ice rink, ending the game, did not work and the men at the whistle judge that the Norman goal was scored beyond regulation time.
Rouen then Anglet lodge a complaint
Rouen does not hear it that way and lodges a complaint. The French Federation of Ice Hockey (FFHG) agrees with him by considering that there has been “a manifest error of arbitration”. Hormadi’s victory is cancelled. The FFHG, whose decision is confirmed by its appeal committee, orders that the match be partially replayed: only the extension, which should have taken place on November 30 if the Rouen equalization had been validated, and the possible session of penalty shootouts will be contested.
But Anglet, who is contesting the arbitration error and the decision of the federation, is complaining to the CNOSF. The latter, during a conciliation meeting on February 24, finally encouraged the 3 parties, the FFHG and the 2 clubs, to compromise. the match will be replayed, but in its entirety. And whatever the course, extra time or not, the loser will be awarded one point in the standings and the winner two. The Hormadi does not recover his 3 points, but consoles himself with the prospect of a new poster which should fill the Angloye ice rink.
An Angloy says he is the victim of racist remarks
Because in the meantime, a new episode has rekindled tensions. On February 13, the two teams met again at La Barre (the clubs compete 4 times, in double return, in the regular season). A few days earlier, after the publication of the decision of the FFHG appeal committee, the Angloys issued a press release in which they criticized in particular Rouen’s “totally unsportsmanlike attitude”. As expected, the reunion on the ice is stormy. Anglet, revengeful but too penalized, lost (3-4).
Eight days later, on February 21, Christopher-John Garcia, black defender of Hormadi, published a statement on social networks in which he claimed to have been called a “gorilla” by a Rouen opponent during a altercation at the end of the meeting. In the process, the Basque club splits a message to support its player.
The two clubs file a complaint
The same day, Rouen in turn publishes a long press release in which the club explains that, after investigation, the offending player did not make the comments attributed to him and that there is no proof of the accusations made. by CJ Garcia. The Normans decide to file a complaint for defamation. In this same press release, they are also surprised at the timing of the English and imply that it is linked to the decision to replay the match of November 30.
On February 24, Hormadi reacted with a new press release in which the leaders affirmed that witnesses, located near the visitor’s bench, corroborate the words of CJ Garcia. The club announces that it has seized “a lawyer so that he can lodge a complaint with the competent authorities”.
Hormadi prepares for the play-downs
It is in this context that the two formations with opposite trajectories in the championship – Rouen is on the podium, while Anglet is fighting at the bottom of the classification – meet again this Saturday, March 5. A meeting that will be worth more for its context and atmosphere than for its sporting importance for the Hormadi.
The Basques are preparing above all for the final maintenance phase, a mini-championship between the teams ranked between 9th and 12th place, which will take place from March 11 to April 1. The last will be relegated, unless no team is in a position, sporting and above all financial, to go up.