Our shalley was on the quiet side on Saturday morning with the uncertainty of the Gibson saga and the disappointment of not beating the Poles. Our first match today is against the Austrians, our last pool match. We didn’t get off to the best of starts and eventually lost the game on a 45 - 21 scoreline. It is very easy for people watching the game to be confused and disillusioned with the way that players are classified when you look at players that are on the court and those that aren’t. I give the comparison of Philip, a wheelchair user who can’t walk, and the Austrian star, Max Stroblemaier, who we’ve seen walking around the place and has helped us on occasion by lifting our chairs down from a bus. I know that they are both of different disabilities and that certain muscle groups are affected but we still feel let down by the process that has Philip sitting on the sidelines while others are playing but rules are rules I guess.

I got a message that Philip and I were to be called for 1.45 to be informed of the second classification panels decision. I met with some of the GB lads just before going in, they informed me that John Lilley was out and I knew then that the same was in store for Philip and true enough that’s the news we got when we went in. We pleaded our case and begged for the benefit of doubt due to the fact that we were a developing team with low numbers and that by pointing Philip out of the game they were doing more damage than good. It may be ok for the stronger countries to lose a player of this quality but it was devastating for us and could be a blow that we’ll find hard to recover from. They told us of ways that we could get a dossier together that may influence another panel to classify Philip back into the game but we’ll have to see how that scenario developes.

I had to fly outta there and get kitted out really quick because we were due on court against Finland at 2.30 in the cross over games. We’d seen the Finns play in a few of their group matches and they looked an impressive unit and so they proved to be in beating us 50 - 30 to condemn us to the 11-12 playoff match. The Finns were one of the teams that supported us in our theory that Philip should be playing, sure himself and Yukka are the best of buddies now and on each others Christmas card list.