Purples' Champs appeal gets ISSA boot

The Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) yesterday killed any hopes Kingston College (KC) had of winning Boys Champs in the boardroom, shooting down an appeal lodged by the North Street school, leaving no room for a possible intervention by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

KC had written a formal appeal to ISSA about the disqualification of Class one 800m runner Colin Rowe at Champs, after he had finished seventh.

Rowe was judged to be in breach of IAAF Rule 163.2b, which outlaws jostling for position in the race, and obstruction.

If he had not been disqualified, KC and Calabar would have ended Champs equal on points but The Purples would have won the Championships based on number of events won overall.

ISSA Competitions Director George Forbes told STAR Sports that the association responded to KC regarding the appeal, but would not give details on the specifics of what was said yesterday.

"It (the appeal) came to the office sometime last week, but I was out of office at that time," Forbes said. "I got it on Monday and responded on Tuesday to say we are looking into the matter. Essentially, they are questioning the disqualification of Rowe and we basically outlined the reason.

CLEAR RULES

"It went through the Jury of Appeal and the rules are quite clear - the Jury of Appeal has the final say. Not even the Court of Arbitration for Sport can overturn that appeal ruling."

As for whether KC will make another attempt to wrestle the Mortimer Geddes trophy from their Red Hills Road rivals, Forbes said they are free to do whatever they feel necessary.

"KC can do whatever KC want to do," he said. "We can't stop them from taking it to court. The rules are quite clear that it can't be overturned. The IAAF website states this. The Jury of Appeal is the final arbiter on the matter."