EXCLUSIVE – EJU Veteran Cup Competitions 2024
An exclusive insight into the organiser behind the EJU Veteran competition series and how he got the job.
Ronnie Saez, former British Judo Association Chair.
Photo: EJU.NET
October 2023:
"RS [Ronnie Saez] has been given responsibility for Veterans (Masters) Judo by the IJF with the key task to develop the European Open Veterans Tour in 2024 and it is hoped that one of the first events will be hosted in the UK;"*
- SBE
Updated 20 April 2024
The man behind the faltering 2024 EJU Veteran Cup series is none other than the disgraced former British Judo Association Chair.
Ronnie Saez!
Unknown to many in Europe but well known in the Britain for a variety of reasons.
Many being in stark contrast to judo values such as integrity & honesty.
Content
Ronnie Saez
The former British Judo Chair appointed to organise the EJU Veterans Cup competition 2024.
Competition Status.
The Scottish Connection
Ronnie Saez
October 2023:
"RS [Ronnie Saez] has been given responsibility for Veterans (Masters) Judo by the IJF with the key task to develop the European Open Veterans Tour in 2024 and it is hoped that one of the first events will be hosted in the UK;"*
Before joining the British Judo Association Ltd Board of Directors, Ronnie Saez had recently been involved in a financial scandal where he re-allocating money designated to regenerate deprived and poor areas in Glasgow, Scotland
To his personal pension fund.
BBC:
"Pay-Off for charity boss Ronnie saez branded 'misconduct'"
Shortly after Ronnie Saez joined the BJA Board of Directors and another Scotsman from Glasgow was promoted to BJA’s CEO, Andrew Scoular.
During his terms as Chair of British Judo Association (the BJA), he has been directly involved in several cases that have had a negative impact on Judo in Great Britain, the association, membership, safeguarding, governance and the grassroots judo community.
-
Overturning the expulsion of a BJA coach to a 2 year suspension as a coach but allowing the person to remain an ordinary member.
Then turning a blind eye to “the coach” and his club continuing as if nothing had happened while the |BJA keeps funding the club with government money to run a “Sporting Excellence” programme for children. -
Censoring social media by ordering critical comments to be deleted.
Then replacing these with “positive comments” instead. -
Sharing homophobic content on social media but refusing to make a public apoligy.
-
Participating in the rigging of a disciplinary panel in an internal bullying complaint.
While the BJA gave the false impression that the panel was “fully independent”.
2021,
Ronnie Saez is re-elected in a “secret” process to another 4 year term as Chair of the British Judo Association Ltd. The BJA removes the statement that its clubs elect the chair and alters documentation 6 moths after publication.
2023,
Ronnie Saez resigns 2 years early into his second BJA Chair 4 year term.
Ronnie Saez states that he had come to the end of his second [4 year] term as BJA Chair.
2021 + 4 years = 2023 ?
Ronnie Saez is currently a EJU Director of Education.
EJU Veteran Cup competition series – Status
EJU
Riga Veterans Cup,
24 & 25 February 2024.
The overall Veteran feedback from those that attended the Riga Veterans Cup was positve about the organisers but very critical about the short notice and the low number of competitors.
Male competitors = 71
Female competitors = 7
Would I recommend entering these new fangled events any time soon?
Absolutely not until the EJU sort this mess out. Simply no purpose to them.
Save your money for the great events in France etc that are cheaper, better attended and involve much less bureaucracy!
EJU
Birmingham Veterans Cup,
30 & 31 March 2024.
Ronnie Saez had hoped this would be the first in the series when he announced his appointment as the EJU organiser.
It was then scheduled as the second in the series before being moved to September, the second last in the series..
The competition doesn’t appear on the BJA event calendar and the BJA have made no public announcement about the competition to their members.
See update later on the page.
EJU
Győr Veterans Cup,
6 & 7 April 2024.
With only 3 week to go, the 5 Veterans that were registered to compete disappeared from the IJF event listing and the competition itself disappeared from the EJU calendar.
Cancellled or postponed? – TBC.
EJU
Birmingham Veterans Cup,
Rescheduled for 28 & 29 September – TBC!
UPDATE
The competition has now disappeared from the EJU event calendar.
EJU
Warsaw Veterans Cup,
20 & 21th April 2024.
Due to low interest, this competition was altered to a 1 day competition with the Sunday becoming a training camp.
Competitors total: 131
- 12 Women
- 119 Men
EJU
Tbilisi Veterans Cup,
11 & 12 May 2024.
The competition document and details were published just over 3 weeks before the competition and only 10 days before the registation deadline.
The Veteran Competitions Unfolding
When the EJU Veteran Cup competitions suddenly appeared on the EJU and IJF calendar, 10 January 2024, it came as a surprise to most including many Veteran competition organisers in Europe that had been organising veteran events for many years.
The competitions generated a lot of interest within the veteran judo community.
The main issue with the EJU veteran competitions were they didn’t incorporate existing veteran judo events and when suddenly appearing on the calendar, they clashed with many competitions that had been running succesfully for many years.
With the short notice and failing to understand the veteran judo community having family and work to take into consideration before being able to commit to attending.
These two factors have limited interest and registration.
Now the cracks started to show.
The IJF
"Scottish Connection"
When a British athlete filed an internal bullying complaint against another athlete with British Judo Association Ltd.
It took 617 days and the BJA Board of directors, including Ronnie Saez, rigging the panel for it to rule in the complaint. Rejecting the complaint.
When announcing the result, the BJA stated that the disciplinary was fully independent but failed to mention that it was headed by Lisa Allan that by no standards can be considered independent, let alone “fully independent”.
Her father, Colin McIvor, being the BJA Sport Director and her many friendships within the organisations that includes Directors, Managers and one of the persons included in the complaint.
Lisa Allan has since risen within the IJF to become its General Secretary in 2023.
Supported by the British Judo Association and Ronnie Saez before he had to leave as the BJA Chair.
Ronnie Saez has also secured himself the position to Cahir the BJA Veteran Commission, February 2024, though this has still not been publicly announced to the membership.
Ronnie Saez’s involvement with rigging a disciplinary panel – Find out more …
British Judo Rigging a Disciplinary Panel in a Bullying Complaint
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