Mykola Neseniuk: "Who read the regulations?"

A well-known journalist Mykola Nesenyuk commented on his Facebook page on the active complaints of some clubs about the postponement of Ukrainian championship matches.

These days, the Ukrainian media have made several statements from people who are not the least important in our football. These people are outraged by the numerous postponements of Ukrainian league matches due to the fact that their participants are playing in European competitions. This, they say, destroys the structure of the competition, puts the participants in the championship in unequal conditions, and so on. And this is all true. But it's not the fault of the clubs who postpone their games to an unknown date, nor of the football authorities who allow these postponements. It's the fault of those who complain about it. Because only those who have not read the championship regulations can complain, which contain paragraph 15 of Article 5, which states that "In the case of participation of the main and/or youth teams in UEFA club tournaments (UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, UEFA Youth League) at the request of the club participating in the relevant UEFA tournament, and with the consent of the UPL Management Board, a decision may be made to postpone the match of the corresponding round of the UPL Championship or the U-19 Championship, which are scheduled between the matches of the said UEFA club tournaments, to a reserve date, which is separately determined by the clubs with the consent of the UPL Management Board. In the absence of agreement between the clubs, the decision on the date of the match is made by the UPL Management." End of quote.

If we translate this paragraph into human language, we will get a situation in which several participants in the European Cups are free to postpone their matches of the Ukrainian championship, which fall between the matches of the European Cups. And there is no reason for this!

This would not have happened if the heads of our "football clubs" or their authorised representatives had read the championship regulations, which are approved after consultation with all participants. It turns out that they initially approved it without reading it, and now they are outraged! I understand that reading 187 pages of regulations is not an easy task. There was no one to do it among the numerous staff that all newly created "football clubs" acquire. Somehow, they forgot that, in addition to regularly reminding the owner of how wise he is, his subordinates should at least read official documents. So as not to put these owners in an awkward position later. I hope that next time it will be so.

Mykola Neseniuk