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

[hammer1969 421]

2 hours ago, Grachan said:

There are a lot of tennis tournaments going on at the moment and it's interesting to see some of the developments.

Ukranian player Elina Svitolina pulled out of the Monterrey Open. She was drawn to play a Russian player and said she will not play any Russian or Belarusian unless they played as stateless.

The organisers agreed that her opponent, Anastasia Potapova, will play as a neutral player and representing no country.

Svitolina has been very outspoken on this. If this solution is good enough for her then it should be good enough for everyone else.

Potapova may play as stateless but where will she go at the end of the tournament  - back home to Russia. Svitolina should see the bigger picture not just her tennis match. While Russia is killing innocent people you can't give some the opportunity to compete in sports if they play as stateless and ban others they should all be banned.  We need to stand together and be seen to stand together against this aggression.

[Humphrey Appleby 13,952]

4 hours ago, Triple.H. said:

Stop every Russian outside Russia from working, put them under house arrest for example. This then encourages the Russians  most probably the Army to overthrow the dictator.

It will not encourage anything of the sort. The average Russian has no chance of overthrowing Putin who controls all the levers of power including the security forces. No more than Saddam Hussein could be overthrown by Iraqis.

All you will do is reinforce Putin's rhetoric that Russians are being victimised in the world, and turn innocent Russians who don't support Putin against you.

The only way Putin will be overthrown is when his inner circle, the oligarchs or the Russian military leadership decide enough is enough. 

There is a strong argument for other countries to make travelling in and out of Russia very difficult, or prevent Russians in Russia from doing business with the rest of the world. It is very wrong to target Russians who already live and work in other countries unless they have some connection to the Putin regime. 

Edited March 2, 2022 by Humphrey Appleby

[DBP 66]

Russian F1 driver will be allowed to race this season. So why not Emil and Artem most Russians hate Putin

Edited March 2, 2022 by DBP

[Grachan 7,362]

10 hours ago, hammer1969 said:

Potapova may play as stateless but where will she go at the end of the tournament  - back home to Russia. Svitolina should see the bigger picture not just her tennis match. While Russia is killing innocent people you can't give some the opportunity to compete in sports if they play as stateless and ban others they should all be banned.  We need to stand together and be seen to stand together against this aggression.

I can see both sides of the argument really. I don't think it is clear-cut either way in terms of individuals riding as themselves and not representing the country.

Is it down to political allegiances too? Russia are waging a war and giving misinformation to their own people to justify it. Did the USA and the UK not do the same when they invaded Iraq? Should Greg Hancock and Scott Nicholls have been kicked out of the Grand Prix in 2003?

Where does one draw the line? I'm in regular contact with a Russian guy who lives in the USA as part of my job. I don't have a problem with that.

[Humphrey Appleby 13,952]

3 hours ago, Grachan said:

Is it down to political allegiances too? Russia are waging a war and giving misinformation to their own people to justify it. Did the USA and the UK not do the same when they invaded Iraq? Should Greg Hancock and Scott Nicholls have been kicked out of the Grand Prix in 2003?

Whilst it's easy to draw parallels, Iraq's regime had already invaded two other countries, had in the past used chemical weapons (against Iran and the Kurds), conducted ethnic cleansing within its own borders, and was largely kept from further bad behaviour through ongoing sanctions and no-fly zones. 

Now whilst various Ukraine governments have undoubtedly been a bit corrupt and to various extents pursued nationalist agendas, they're certainly not amongst the worst in the world and have never actually invaded anyone nor been involved in state-sponsored atrocities in the past 75 years or so. 

To be very clear, Putin has long used the invasions of Iraq and the NATO interventions in the Balkan conflicts to justify his behaviour (e.g. annexation of Crimea and establishment of puppet regimes in parts of Georgia and Moldova), but two wrongs don't make a right. 

Edited March 2, 2022 by Humphrey Appleby

[FinnThomsen 10]

They should not be allowed to ride & if they are I for one will not watch any GP.

[OveFundinFan 4,140]

4 hours ago, DBP said:

Russian F1 driver will be allowed to race this season. So why not Emil and Artem

There are no F1 races in Poland. I reckon Polish fans and riders could be very sensitive to Russian riders in their country. Russian troops seem to be hitting more civilian targets, which is a war crime. More civilians, those not involved in a war, are going to die needlessly. There are strong links between Poland and Ukraine, hence they have taken in over 600,000 refugees, and a lot more in coming days, weeks, months. What is that going to do with the Polish economy. Likewise Slovakia (Vaculik).  There is a GP in Prague, the people there will also remember what Russia is capable of.    
It will be very interesting as to Polishcspeedway authorities are going to do.

[noaksey 345]

UK motorsport have announced that regardless of the FAI ruling Mazepin will not be allowed to drive in the Foruma 1 British GP

What's the speedway equivalent of UK motorsport?

[Humphrey Appleby 13,952]

2 hours ago, noaksey said:

UK motorsport have announced that regardless of the FAI ruling Mazepin will not be allowed to drive in the Foruma 1 British GP

What's the speedway equivalent of UK motorsport?

It's actually Motorsport UK, but the motorcycle version is the ACU.

Motorsport UK have not actually banned Russian competitors, but Russian-licensed competitors.

I think it's academic about Mazepin anyway, as Haas have pulled Daddy's sponsorship, he's a poor driver, and has had other off-track issues that will make him unpalatable if he's not bringing any money. Moreover, his family is likely closely related to the Putin regime, so it's not quite the same as for other Russian sportspeople. 

Edited March 2, 2022 by Humphrey Appleby

[topaz325 1,855]

Announced today  Russian para olympic athletes allowed to compete but no flags, mention of nationality or national anthems and no position on medal table.

[TINYS 292]

8 minutes ago, topaz325 said:

Announced today  Russian para olympic athletes allowed to compete but no flags, mention of nationality or national anthems and no position on medal table.

They should not be allowed to compete what's so special about them, it's a farce.

[topaz325 1,855]

Post on Facebook from Artem statement  

saying I want nothing to do with Putin 

[HenryW 1,178]

12 minutes ago, topaz325 said:

Post on Facebook from Artem statement  

saying I want nothing to do with Putin 

Must be a bit of tension at home if this quote is correct as it seems his wife has been posting support for the Russians online.

[hammer1969 421]

1 hour ago, TINYS said:

They should not be allowed to compete what's so special about them, it's a farce.

Some say sports people are innocent and just want to compete, maybe true, but where will they go after the competition, back to their lives in Russia maybe with medals and where will thousands of innocent Ukrainians be, seeking refuge in other countries or sheltering underground from bombing.  The world needs to show a united front and no sports people should be allowed to compete in other countries until the bombing stops.

[hammer1969 421]

2 hours ago, topaz325 said:

Announced today  Russian para olympic athletes allowed to compete but no flags, mention of nationality or national anthems and no position on medal table.

Maybe no position on the medal table but will that stop it being celebrated on the sports pages of Russian newspapers if they win a medal, I doubt it.