Fourteen calendar days: that’s the time during which Softball Leinster (SL) has to complete an investigation into a complaint (aka “request for disciplinary action”) once that complaint has been submitted. This is according to their own rules, which they published on their own website, in a document called “Captain’s / Team Guide” — but rules are rules, by whatever name they choose, “guide” or “bylaws”, they are still rules…

… and they chose to not follow them. Either through ignorance or malice, it makes little difference. (Actually, in this case it does make some difference, as this exact occurrence is outlined elsewhere in this story.) People are allowed to make mistakes as long as they’re not trying to make those mistakes. This won’t absolve them of the consequences of the complete incompetence on display. Such incompetence must disqualify individuals from holding a position of authority. As it happens, that’s not entirely the case here: one member of the league committee intervened to suppress and stop my complaint and any investigation into it, and there will be consequences for that incredibly unethical and egregious example of serious misconduct.

So seventeen calendar days after my initial complaint was submitted, and fifteen calendar days after my initial complaint was acknowledged as received (after I had to follow up with them), SL sends me an email.

In this email, they started off by mentioning some other complaint they received from someone else in my softball club, and how the league decided to not investigate my complaint because someone else in the club asked them not to. That’s the confirmation of an attempt at a cover-up if I ever heard one.

They decided instead to do nothing, until that point where their own deadlines had passed and they’ve decided to maybe do something (because more eyes were on them now, more on this in a second), but they weren’t sure they’d be able to even do that because of a “request for confidentiality and anonymity” from this other complaint, which was from someone else.

Bizarre enough yet? Wait, it gets better.

They probably already knew I’d submitted another request for disciplinary action to Softball Ireland (SI), the national governing body for softball. So many of the same people are in the same circles in this tiny sport of softball, it’d be unreasonable to think they weren’t all talking to each other “behind the scenes”, because that’s the way this culture works: cloak-and-dagger, a “chat over a beer”, purposefully without any oversight or transparency. “Sneaky” (though they’d probably call it “efficient” or even “clever”) and with great dysfunction. That’s why all of a sudden they jumped into “action mode”.

However the fact remained: the league’s deadline for performing an investigation had lapsed. The league failed to uphold it’s own rules, worked to halt and suppress my initial complaint and the investigation process, and for that they needed to be held accountable.

The league had de-legitimized itself completely. They failed in their duty to perform an investigation into a complaint of abusive behavior. Incompetence combined with malice, they should not be in any position of authority to investigate anything.

Let the mad scramble begin! Having understood that now the national governing body is involved, they’d better look like they’re doing something! Quick, send some emails! Create an “investigative committee”! Think of some pertinent-sounding questions to ask! First came an incoherent email from one committee member. Then came another email from another committee member a week and a half later, demanding answers to questions “within 24 hours”. Yeah, right. Or what, exactly?

Do your best, “investigative committee”, but ultimately you must be ignored. No matter how hard you try, you can’t go back in time. The thing about sweeping dirt under the carpet is eventually, you’ll trip.