The Court of Appeals of the Polish Volleyball Federation has decided to uphold the penalties imposed upon the club MKS Dąbrowa Górnicza (MKS Dabrowa Mining) for a violation of league rules in a match in October.
The club is a member of the ORLEN Liga, the top league in Polish women’s volleyball. They finished 4th in the league table last year and won the Polish Cup in both 2012 and 2013.
In a game on October 17, 2016, the opening game of the season against the club Developres SkyRes Rzeszów, Dabrowianki originally won the game 3-0. At one point in the game, however, Dabrowianki had fewer than the minimum number of Polish players required (and therefore too many foreign players on the court) at once.
The confusion arose from the status of Dominika Sobolska, who was born in Belgium and plays for their National Team, but also holds Polish citizenship. At the end of last season, she was considered to be a Polish national player, the club argued, and they say they received assurances from the league that this status would continue.
On May 31, however, she made her debut for the Belgian National Team, which may have swayed the league’s decision and interpretation of the matter.
She is one of now 5 foreign players on the roster: Helena Horka of the Czech Republic, Regan Scott of the United States, Kathleen Weiss of Germany, and Yael Castiglione of Argentina also occupy roster positions for the side.By rule, each team must have a minimum of 3 Polish Nationals on the court at any one time – though that rule doesn’t apply to the Champions League, where Sobolska played without issue.
As a punishment, the outcome of the game was switched from a 3-0 win to an 0-3 loss, with set scores of 0-25, 0-25, 0-25 entered. Additionally, the club will have to pay a 5,000 zloty fine ($1,186 USD), and to pay Developres SkyRes Rzeszow 15,000 zloty ($3,558 USD).
In the current table, Daborwa has a record of 7-4 and sit 6th in the table. Without the additional loss, they would be 3rd.
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