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

[Triple.H. 1,986]

27 minutes ago, speed29 said:

Speedway GP 2022 This Season will be without Artem Laguta & Emil Sayfutinov, but they will be replacing by Jack Holder & Dan Bewley!!!! 

I'm starting to get the feeling of no GPs in the old Eastern Bloc countries 

[chris4gillian 1,832]

4 hours ago, Grachan said:

What about Daria Saville? She is a Tennis player. Formerly known as Daria Gavrilova, she now represents Australia having married an Australian and taken Australian citizenship. 

She has also posted on Twitter that she will be wearing Yellow and Blue at her next tournament in support of the people of Ukraine, and called for other players to join her in doing so.

Should she really be banned from playing just because she was born in Russia? I don't think she should.

 

The simple answer is yes.  We may not agree with it, but there cannot be exceptions.  All Russian born athletes/sports people need to be considered in exactly the same way.

[Humphrey Appleby 13,958]

1 hour ago, chris4gillian said:

The simple answer is yes.  We may not agree with it, but there cannot be exceptions.  All Russian born athletes/sports people need to be considered in exactly the same way.

The simple answer is that's complete nonsense.

If someone has actually taken the citizenship of another country then you can't ban them simply because of an accident of birth. Otherwise you'll create different classes of citizenship within a country, and would be especially unworkable in a country with a largely immigrant population such as Australia. 

A citizen is a citizen with the same rights as everyone else in their (adopted) country, regardless of the rabble rousing sentiments. If there were going around vocalising support for Russia then you may not want them playing in your tournament (which is fair enough), but if someone is actually condemning Russia what more is expected from them? 

[BluTiger 21,700]

1 hour ago, chris4gillian said:

The simple answer is yes.  We may not agree with it, but there cannot be exceptions.  All Russian born athletes/sports people need to be considered in exactly the same way.

Ludicrous illogical hysteria as usual....

[chris4gillian 1,832]

9 hours ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

The simple answer is that's complete nonsense.

If someone has actually taken the citizenship of another country then you can't ban them simply because of an accident of birth. Otherwise you'll create different classes of citizenship within a country, and would be especially unworkable in a country with a largely immigrant population such as Australia. 

A citizen is a citizen with the same rights as everyone else in their (adopted) country, regardless of the rabble rousing sentiments. If there were going around vocalising support for Russia then you may not want them playing in your tournament (which is fair enough), but if someone is actually condemning Russia what more is expected from them? 

Every governing body in sport around the world disagrees with you....so you must be correct 

[chris4gillian 1,832]

8 hours ago, Blupanther said:

Ludicrous illogical hysteria as usual....

Have you got time to have a life outside of this forum? 

[Grachan 7,362]

25 minutes ago, chris4gillian said:

Every governing body in sport around the world disagrees with you....so you must be correct 

I'm not sure it does. The Russian speedway riders with Polish citizenship have the option of riding in the Polish league if they have previously ridden for Poland or if they denounce their Russian citizenship. (Personally, I feel the SGP should have waited to see if Laguta and Sayfutdinov took up this option before expelling them from the GP)

Take a look at the line-up for the Indian Wells tennis tournament this week. Plenty of Russians and Belarussians playing, but not representing their country. Daria Saville playing as an Australian, as she has done for several years now.

I don't actually think any sports bodies are banning people purely on the basis of them having been born in Russia.

 

Edited March 8, 2022 by Grachan

[chris4gillian 1,832]

9 minutes ago, Grachan said:

I'm not sure it does. The Russian speedway riders with Polish citizenship have the option of riding in the Polish league if they have previously ridden for Poland or if they denounce their Russian citizenship. (Personally, I feel the SGP should have waited to see if Laguta and Sayfutdinov took up this option before expelling them from the GP)

Take a look at the line-up for the Indian Wells tennis tournament this week. Plenty of Russians and Belarussians playing, but not representing their country. Daria Saville playing as an Australian, as she has done for several years now.

I don't actually think any sports bodies are banning people purely on the basis of them having been born in Russia.

 

Fair enough.  To be honest I've never heard of the Indian Wells tennis tournament or Daria Saville as I'm not really a tennis fan.

However, Russian born sports people (and teams) do seem to be being excluded in 2022 all over the globe in numerous sporting events.

[Humphrey Appleby 13,958]

2 hours ago, chris4gillian said:

Every governing body in sport around the world disagrees with you....so you must be correct 

Even if that were true - which is isn't - it still wouldn't make it right.

Russians representing Russian federations and in official Russian teams are being excluded from sporting events, and few would object to that. However, wielding the pitchforks against people simply because they had the misfortune to be born somewhere, is really not the way to behave regardless of the strength of everyones' feelings against Russia. We need to distinguish ourselves by our higher standards of behaviour. 

[chris4gillian 1,832]

45 minutes ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

Even if that were true - which is isn't - it still wouldn't make it right.

Russians representing Russian federations and in official Russian teams are being excluded from sporting events, and few would object to that. However, wielding the pitchforks against people simply because they had the misfortune to be born somewhere, is really not the way to behave regardless of the strength of everyones' feelings against Russia. We need to distinguish ourselves by our higher standards of behaviour. 

I don't particularly disagree with any of that, however you need to face the facts of what's going on regardless of your opinion.

[RPNY 608]

All this aside, is it a true world Championship this year? World #1 & 3 not it it. Can only imagine Emil woulda had a bit more fire in his belly with his fellw countryman winning last year. 
Very sad we wont be seeing these 2 this year.

[iris123 20,988]

2 hours ago, RPNY said:

All this aside, is it a true world Championship this year? World #1 & 3 not it it. Can only imagine Emil woulda had a bit more fire in his belly with his fellw countryman winning last year. 
Very sad we wont be seeing these 2 this year.

Tbh i don't really have a problem with it being a world championship, as it is all clear from the outset. Same as asking if some are really worthy of being an Olympic champion when countries boycott a year. I do though personally think the ice speedway shouldn't be recognised as a world championship, as the Russians competed in the first two rounds and then are banned from taking any further part. But of course tickets have been sold and contracts signed based on the meetings being world championship rounds......

For instance, one of my early sporting favourites was Allan Wells, who won the 1980 gold medal in 100m. Now the US boycotted the Games held in USSR along with many othecountries. But for me he is a gold medalist......and anyway a short time after beat all the best US sprinters too

Edited March 8, 2022 by iris123

[topaz325 1,859]

Russian riders banned in Sweden too.

[noaksey 345]

https://britishspeedway.co.uk/miscellaneous/acu-statement-invasion-of-ukraine/

ACU statement 

[Triple.H. 1,986]

I honestly can't believe some of what I've read on here and social media regarding the Russians not being in the GPs devaluing the series.

Maybe it will maybe it won't 

Whoever wins, like it or lump it is World Champion.

Even though the Russians not riding is only a very small nibble at Putin compared to other sports and Economic restrictions,

I'd far rather see GPs without them than thousands if not millions of lives destroyed