I don't normally post on BC but being sandbagged a second year running has prompted me to vent my anger. I played on Saturday in the C/D grade and got thrashed by the ultimate winners. They were clearly not C/D and more likely A/B grade. Why do people do this and why does this keep happening ????!?!? I remember last year the same thing happened and Badminton Victoria said things were going to change. WHAT HAS CHANGED ? NOTHING!! The guy who won it last year in D, won again in D this year. I just don't know who to blame : 1) the guy who enters at the lower grade - not sure as he was allowed to play at that level 2) the tournament organisers - how can they ensure all entries are legit ? 3) Badminton Victoria - the buck has to stop here I guess. Even the president of Badminton Victoria last year stood up and shouted that he would ensure this fiasco would be stopped. What has been done ? In fact badminton in Victoria has gone downhill in the last year or so, and I may hang up my rackets for good if something is not done soon. You can't play any tournaments as these pricks just keep entering just to win the lowest grade possible and the people administrating the sport are just sitting on their asses and once in a while announcing something will be done. We can't rely on Badminton Victoria, they even lost the Australian Badminton Open to NSW.
It is with a heavy heart that I see the complete uselessness of our State badminton organization become as impotent as a grandpa without Viagra. The ranking system was introduced for Graded players to stop this evil trend of trophy hunters ruining our great sport. Yet again another D grade being dominated by former national players who are in top 10 of A graders. When we complain, BA is used as the scapegoat when it is clearly BV responsibility to catch and regrade every single potential sandbagged that enters a tournament - the easiest and only way forward is to DNA profile every player and make sure the tournaments run fairly and free from this curse.
The solution is a very easy one! All tournament entries are done online with access to a central database on player gradings. Make it so the system wont let a person physically enter in a certain grade. How about BV - are you ready to enter the 21st century?
When the player turns up on the day, require photo ID to confirm their registration or charge extra if they don't provide a BV number. There are ways to prevent fake names.
I don't know how you are organized down there but here in Germany your entry level for private/club tournaments is determined by in which league you play your team matches. To prevent fake names you have to tell them your player id of the German aquivalent of tournamentsoftware. Works pretty well but it seems like you don't have that kind of team matches in Australia.
Typical, all the best talent export themselves out of here and leave us with the dregs I would nominate myself, but unfortunately don't have the time to put in to fix this problem
We have weekly league competitions but not all entries play in these weekly competitions. I guess the result is similar to what Modern Guy suggested with the database. In fact this is what was suggested a year ago and implemented half heartedly by the inept Badminton Victoria. It was their own president who posted on Badminton Central that sandbagging was going to be a thing of the past.
Unfortunately, Victoria has the worst organised tournaments going around, I have witnessed. THe poor organisers have no state or national body to seek support from and are on their own. Even when they charge HUGE entry fees, the money is just washed away, rather than channelled to a cause which makes the upkeep of the Grading database actually mean something! Each committee is ad hoc and no one studies the results from their last tournament held except ones that remain on the Committee year after year. The grading systems are completely ignored and only a couple of players are CONSTANTLY UNFAIRLY targeted as being much better than they really are. Then we get all the international students enter saying they are D grade when they are likely State champions in their own country and so the Grading system becomes obsolete. I have seen sandbagging and trophy hunting for so long in this State it makes me want to hang up my racket in disgust, if not for those lovely golden teasing large badminton player figurine TROPHIES on offer. THAT'S IT - take away the trophies and the hunters won't come!! What a revolutionary idea!!
Inept would be a nice word for it. Their President even had the most outstanding badminton citizen from our state BANNED for publicisng his face to the public!
I have 2 options for you. 1. Stop playing comps if you are so fustrated of losing all the time 2. Grow some balls and get better to beat the people that win each year. I never play comps since you pay so much money for a piece of small plastic shiny cup. I know that "D grade winner" and he is a true D grader since i'm also D grade he can't beat anyone in your club.
How interesting……… Geelong tournament being bagged by people who did the sandbagging. (nice one) Victoria being bagged for not overseeing every associations tournament entries. (another nice one) It’s very disappointing that Robbo77 doesn’t have the time to get involved and fix “the problem” you helped create, why would you even want to enter a tournament under a fake name? Then bag the tournament and state body for not correcting this “horrendous” error………….it is a bit sad when people put down a fake name to play in a low grade, it’s sad when people deliberately lose their first match so they can play in the lower grade. Then complain about the outrageous entry fees, then complain about the pathetic trophies, then complain about the tournament organisers. Not really sure why play??? Oh, that’s right, you love complaining and just generally denigrating (sh!t stirring) anything about the sport, except how much worse off the sport would be without trophy hunting, whinging parasites like you around to have your “valued” comments published. Yet another brilliant suggestion by the heavy hearted Robbo77, “DNA profile every player”, this a gem of an idea, yet another to add to the ongoing fantastic, positive suggestions that come from this “time poor” contributor. Good luck in the next tournament, the Central D grade championships. I look forward to the next riveting episode about all that was wrong with that event. What name will you be using for this event? It’s amusing that people around the world try and make sensible suggestions to your comedic rants about all that’s wrong in the world of badminton (only in Victoria), vendetta comes to mind!! My guess is that you are a comedy writer for one of the TV networks, otherwise your talent is wasted on a badminton blog. (maybe just a wasted talent) Oh yes, Badminton needs people like you…………to play another sport amuse them for a while.......
You are so right. I think it was Robbo77 and his partner that I lost to last year. His comments are sarcastic and unhelpful. I think we have the answer with the database, like they do in other states, but we haven't got a central body to implement it properly. I just can't see a solution until they have strong dedicated leadership at Badminton Victoria.
How to prevent this 'sandbagging' activity from repeating . I have been directed to this thread by a BCer who knew of my suggestion that I have posted in BC before; regarding the solution for how to prevent this 'sandbagging' activity from repeating. The solution is the 'Promotion System'. What is the 'Promotion System'? Simple. For a lower grade (D, C and B) player, once having won the event in a lower grade, he/she is to be promoted up to the next higher grade (for the same event). Why? This will ensure that a player would not be allowed to stay in the same event again. Note: Because A-Grade is the highest grade, players here can repeat entering in this grade. .
Because of 'Sandbagging', playing in 'Graded Tournaments' is a joke . There will be more new entries (from first-time comers) entering the D-Grade events when the 'Promotion System' is used (compared to the number of lower grade players promoted up to higher grades). Currently, many players have told me that they do not want to play in 'Graded Tournaments'. Why? Because of 'Sandbagging', playing in 'Graded Tournaments' is a joke. Why? Some are so good but still playing D-Grade; Some are so weak, and they are playing wrongly in A-Grade. With the 'Promotion System', we get this situation; * Only previous B-Grade winners can participate in A-Grade events (this keeps the A-Grade events from slipping down in standard) * Only previous C-Grade winners can participate in B-Grade events (also keeping the B-Grade events from slipping down in standard) * Only previous D-Grade winners can participate in C-Grade events (again separating D-Graders from C-Graders) * All new comers who do not know what grades they should be in (because they come form outside Melbourne/Victoria) are welcomed to participate in D-Grade. On this last point, we can find a new comer from a strong country, like from Malaysia, can get promoted to A-Grade in just 3 tournaments (D-Grade to C, C-Grade to B, B-Grade to A). .
