Should Laguta and Emil be kicked out of the GP Series?

[The White Knight 9,039]

3 hours ago, Grachan said:

If they give up their Russian citizenship then they won't be Russian any more.

Should people really have no right to forsake their Russian citizenship and move on with their lives if they get the chance to do it? It is not Sayfutdinov and Laguta's fault that the war is going on.

Normal people deserve a chance. If they choose not to give up their Russian citizenship then, fair enough, stop them riding.

But they have killed nobody. They are just people who happened to be born where they were. Nobody can do anything about that part of themselves.

 

Have Sayfutdinov or Laguta indicated that they are going to change their citizenship?

2 hours ago, OveFundinFan said:

What about the rights of those that happen to be born in Ukraine. As individuals they not the fault of a war starting but under false reasons they are under attack. Because so many individuals citizens have already been killed, does that mean they are all Nazis and responsible for ethnic cleansing, because that is what Russia claims to be a main reason for entering the country on “manoeuvres”. Businesses are cutting ties with Russia, even UK stores are refusing to sell Russian Vodka, football clubs are cutting out the Russian oligarchs meaning they losing their income, F1 has not only cancelled this years race in Sochi (where one of Putins palaces is) but they have cancelled the contract to stage any F1 races in the future. World class athletes from Ukraine are returning to Ukraine to fight for their fellowman's freedom. On BSF there are those who think the speedway world should just carry on. What we don’t know is the feeling of fellow riders, what stance do they take, is there a chance that the conflict will be carried over to the track? Certainly in the Polish league there could be rider problems as there are riders from Ukraine, Latvia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, the eastern part of Germany, Finland, Sweden, probably more, who well remember how Russia has treated their countries.

Very good post OveFundin. I agree 100%.

1 hour ago, iris123 said:

I would say the photo that one Polish guy put on FB of Emil with the Night Wolves leader the Surgeon probably does need explaining, as it could well be used against him. Not saying it is anything more than an innocent pic. But he must have known who the guy is, as his face was all over the press a few years ago, and probably more so in Russia. And of course the Night Wolves have been involved in fighting in Donbas over the past years......then again, what is he going to say other than he wanted a photo and i stood next to him for a second like i do with everyone....and maybe that is the truth

If he wanted a photograph with this guy - that says it all for me. 

If there is a ban on poor disabled athletes in the Winter Olympics, and in most other Sports - Sayfutdinov and Laguta MUST be banned. Speedway is an Interrnational Sport and MUST join the sporting community in it's decisions, anything else would be unconsionable.

Edited March 4, 2022 by The White Knight
Forgot to add reply to a post.

[Grachan 7,362]

25 minutes ago, The White Knight said:

Have Sayfutdinov or Laguta indicated that they are going to change their citizenship?

 

Not that I'm aware of. Those are the conditions stated by the Polish league. If Russian riders with Polish citizenship wish to ride in the league then they have to renounce their Russian citizenship.

[topaz325 1,855]

Some bans started in polish league

[enotian 562]

Some good opinions and counter opinions presented here which is what the forum is all about.

If you consider a sporting event to be a party for people to enjoy then why wouldn't the organiser decide what sort of people to invite to the party? If you held a party at home you wouldn't invite someone who is undesirable and/or would make the other guests uncomfortable because of their view or actions.

And it's about time we decide globally who to invite to our parties.  Whilst that'll lead to the innocent competitors being excluded the message has to be clear, you're country isn't welcome. And pretending to not be from that country just weakens the message.  You're effectively saying nobody wants you at the party but come in a disguise and don't mention  the war and you'll be alright.

If that message is clear then it's down to the residents of that country if they want to try and invoke change of regime/beliefs.

The issue is wider than the invasion of Ukraine isn't it.  If we're serious about having a world which is environmentally sustainable, where people of all race, gender and sexuality are treated equally why wouldn't we exclude all those countries who don't support by their actions those views.

Look at the Premier League there's various well meant shows of support for anti racism and anti homophobia yet some of the clubs are owned by regimes which have dubious beliefs on these subjects.  Can you take any of those messages seriously? It's tokenism.  It's like saying we don't want racists at our party, by the way Tommy Robinson paid for the buffet. 

The message has to be clear. 

[topaz325 1,855]

Bydgoszcz

[HenryW 1,178]

The more I think about it, the more I think that in the GP series Emil and Artem should not be involved if the current fighting in Ukraine continues.
It's hard on them, but anything else just seems to be unacceptable whilst the fighting continues.
I know that speedway is close to being completely ignored by Russian federations, and their exclusion probably won't even create a ripple in Russia, but a stand really has to be made...
As a fan of GP speedway, I can honestly say that I hate the thought of having to watch Jack Holder and Dan Bewley rather than Artem Laguta and Emil Sayfutdinov in a GP, but if that has to be, it's the fault of Putin....I would love to hear all Russian speedway riders shout out about their hate for what Putin is doing, regardless of how irrelevant their voice is compared to some other much bigger sports stars, but it doesn't seem to be coming.

 

[Grachan 7,362]

3 hours ago, HenryW said:

....I would love to hear all Russian speedway riders shout out about their hate for what Putin is doing, regardless of how irrelevant their voice is compared to some other much bigger sports stars, but it doesn't seem to be coming.

 

That might be partly down to a news story I saw a couple of days ago, saying that any Russian spreading what it called "fake news" about what Russia is doing in Ukraine will face up to 15 years in prison.

There is also, of course, the risk of getting something nasty put on your door knob if you live overseas.

It is not as easy as we, in the west, might think. Maybe that is why Emil has deleted his Twitter account.

 

[JamesHarris 390]

What I am finding most disturbing about this sorry episode is the sudden lets cancel anybody or anything that is Russian. It is becoming borderline racism and ironically the same people who are getting very vocal about it all are the same people who got very vocal about the Black Lives Matter movement. Double standards one has to ask.

Not every Russian agrees with or even likes Putin. We must remember that. But I suppose in this day and age of social media everybody loves a bandwagon to jump on. I imagine Alexander the Meerkat will be next on the cancel list but I think that irritating rodent has already got his claws in lots of Putin pies!

Edited March 5, 2022 by JamesHarris

[Daniel Smith 5,659]

27 minutes ago, JamesHarris said:

What I am finding most disturbing about this sorry episode is the sudden lets cancel anybody or anything that is Russian. It is becoming borderline racism and ironically the same people who are getting very vocal about it all are the same people who got very vocal about the Black Lives Matter movement. Double standards one has to ask.

Not every Russian agrees with or even likes Putin. We must remember that. But I suppose in this day and age of social media everybody loves a bandwagon to jump on. I imagine Alexander the Meerkat will be next on the cancel list but I think that irritating rodent has already got his claws in lots of Putin pies!

Another one that doesn't get it. 

Thankfully, as of today HaasF1 have terminate Mazepin's contract. 

All sports are slowly catching up

[eric i 617]

Banning everything Russian may well have the opposite effect with Russian people and they might start agreeing with Putin that the West is bad. 

[enotian 562]

1 hour ago, eric i said:

Banning everything Russian may well have the opposite effect with Russian people and they might start agreeing with Putin that the West is bad. 

Then so be it.  If they do unite and support this tyrannical regime then they should continue to be excluded. A terrible shame when globally we do need to unite on a number of fronts but we have to be clear that the actions of the Putin regime are not acceptable to the rest of society.  What they decide to do in Russia is entirely their (or Putin's) choice.

The west is far from a perfect utopia but we're all sure that invading another country and murdering innocent civilians isn't okay aren't we? Soo the west isn't right on everything but on this it certainly is. 

[eric i 617]

13 minutes ago, enotian said:

Then so be it.  If they do unite and support this tyrannical regime then they should continue to be excluded. A terrible shame when globally we do need to unite on a number of fronts but we have to be clear that the actions of the Putin regime are not acceptable to the rest of society.  What they decide to do in Russia is entirely their (or Putin's) choice.

The west is far from a perfect utopia but we're all sure that invading another country and murdering innocent civilians isn't okay aren't we? Soo the west isn't right on everything but on this it certainly is. 

I think this comes down to how the Russian people perceive this action of banning everything Russian, will they see it as Putin's regime being unacceptable or will they see it as the West picking on the average Russian.

[enotian 562]

2 hours ago, JamesHarris said:

What I am finding most disturbing about this sorry episode is the sudden lets cancel anybody or anything that is Russian. It is becoming borderline racism and ironically the same people who are getting very vocal about it all are the same people who got very vocal about the Black Lives Matter movement. Double standards one has to ask.

Not every Russian agrees with or even likes Putin. We must remember that. But I suppose in this day and age of social media everybody loves a bandwagon to jump on. I imagine Alexander the Meerkat will be next on the cancel list but I think that irritating rodent has already got his claws in lots of Putin pies!

Oh dear.

It's the regime that is being opposed. Not the Russian people. But how do you send a clear message to the regime that their actions will not be tolerated? Ban Putin from riding in the SGP? Don't allow him personally from accessing products/services from the west? The minimum we can do is send this message to the Russian public, the actions of your leaders are not acceptable and therefore you're no longer welcome as part of the global community.  This represents a minor inconvenience to the Russian people compared to what the people of Ukraine are being subjected to but it is only the people of Russia who can plausibly end this regime without the situation literally going nuclear.

As per an earlier post it might not work and the Russian public may support Putin and nothing will be resolved. That's their right.  But it doesn't change the message. We don't want these regressive, aggressive nations to be part of the global community. 

[hammer1969 421]

2 hours ago, JamesHarris said:

What I am finding most disturbing about this sorry episode is the sudden lets cancel anybody or anything that is Russian. It is becoming borderline racism and ironically the same people who are getting very vocal about it all are the same people who got very vocal about the Black Lives Matter movement. Double standards one has to ask.

Not every Russian agrees with or even likes Putin. We must remember that. But I suppose in this day and age of social media everybody loves a bandwagon to jump on. I imagine Alexander the Meerkat will be next on the cancel list but I think that irritating rodent has already got his claws in lots of Putin pies!

I've never posted on the Forum about Black Lives Matter and I am not jumping on any bandwagon, what I am doing is voicing my opinion about Putin and his cronies walking into and murdering innocent people and I don't like what is happening.  Short of sending in troops from outside of Ukraine and starting WWIII we have to hope the sanctions, which includes stopping Russian sports people competing abroad unfortunately, start to take effect.  Yes the ordinary Russian people will probably think the West are picking on them but why will they think that, the answer is simple because the tyrant in charge of Russia blocks all the news broadcasts that he doesn't like that people could watch and any Russian who does dare to speak out puts their lives and that of their families in danger.

 

[enotian 562]

19 minutes ago, eric i said:

I think this comes down to how the Russian people perceive this action of banning everything Russian, will they see it as Putin's regime being unacceptable or will they see it as the West picking on the average Russian.

True. And I don't know the intellect level your average Russian but I'd hope that if they do feel like they're being 'picked on' they'd then ask themselves why. If the message from the global community is clear and consistent then they can consume that information and decide for themselves if these exclusions are justifiable or not. Difficult when we've all been subjected to media brainwashing over a number of years. I'm reading Animal Farm at the minute.  In the current climate it's a fascinating read.

If I went to a football match and verbally abused a black player and was banned.  If I was a moron I'd think I was being picked on. If I had any sense I'd listen to why I was banned and decide if I think it's justified.  If I didn't then I'd be a massive racist and get what I deserve. If I'd realise the error of my ways I'd hopefully change them realising they weren't acceptable to the football community and simply wrong.