A fortnight after Ireland lost their place in the World Cup finals, following a ruling by the International Hockey Federation (FIH), and a day before the deadline for lodging an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the Irish Hockey Association (IHA) will finally announce today whether they intend to challenge the decision.
The announcement, it seems, will be awaited with considerable interest in Delhi, where Amrit Bose, secretary general of the Indian Hockey Confederation (IHC), hinted yesterday that if Ireland go to the CAS, then India may follow them - or at least support their case.
Before the FIH ruling, India were due to play the United States in a three-match series in India, with the winners going through to the World Cup. But now their home advantage has been withdrawn and they must attempt to qualify, along with Ireland, Lithuania and the US, in South Africa in February.
How much backing Bose receives from Indian hockey remains to be seen (bearing in mind that the only section devoted to the women's national team on India's chief hockey website is entitled "Hockey Babes").
When asked yesterday for the confederation's views on the current state of affairs, the man who answered the phone at the IHC offices said he was "very happy" because the Indian women would have home advantage in their play-off against the US.
When told this "privilege" had been withdrawn by the FIH two weeks ago, he proffered Bose's home phone number.
Bose, too, was unaware that Ireland and Lithuania may yet challenge the decision (a spokeswoman for the Lithuanian Hockey Federation said that they would also announce today whether they intend to take the FIH to the CAS), but on hearing that the IHA may yet go down that route, Bose said: "Mmm, that has given me food for thought."
"If Ireland challenge this decision then we will have to think again, because we agreed with Ireland's stance on this. I will have to talk to our lawyer."
When told tomorrow was the deadline for lodging an appeal with the CAS, she said, "Well, we will have to decide tomorrow."
"I am totally against the FIH decision and I even thought about withdrawing (India) from the Champions Challenge in South Africa in protest," she said. "It's an absolute mess. The FIH make the rules, then they break them. Their own rules! What's the point in having rules in the first place? You cannot make them up as you go along, or make them up after a tournament. Ireland never broke any rules, Lithuania did - so how can they come to this decision?"
Bose also had a unique take on the motivation behind the FIH ruling. "They are trying to please the Russian bloc, that's what it's all about, and Lithuania belong to the Russian bloc. They have now set a dangerous precedent with this decision, they will be emotionally blackmailed again by these countries. All these teams have to do is say, 'we didn't understand the tournament director because we don't speak English'. Well, maybe India will say we don't understand English either from now on."
