It's time to end NATIONALISM in Badminton!

[Maklike Tier]

"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."
- Albert Einstein

"Nationalism is hunger power tempered by self deception."
- George Orwell


I'm becoming more and more convinced that it's time for nationalism to be abolished in badminton and only used in the anachronistic areas such as in the Olympic and Commonwealth games and similar events.

The issue is with nationalism, is that in the current climate, you've already lost. The forseeable future is a future of China's dominance. For me, this is indisputable. We may see a few talents emerging from other states, but China has played it's hand and it's dominance in nation-based competition is well publicised. The only thing stopping this is themselves. They have the population, they have growing resources - they're only going to get bigger.

So why don't we have a situation where individual teams and singles players as free entities can compete much like they do in tennis. This way, instead of having nation-states dictate who wins and who loses, there's at least some form of a player's self-determination - and also the exciting possibility in doubles of players from different countries playing together.

Nationalism may have it's place, but increasingly I think it's maybe not akin to measles, but it's certainly a blight on the landscape.

What do you think?

[winstonchan]

Li Yong Bo would probably tell you promoting Nationalism gave him fame and a fat pocket. Albert & George were living in their dreams.

Things might change one day, however.

[vixter]

The idea is nice. But maybe since there is way less money in badminton than in tennis, only a superstar could be able to go individual, without dependance on the support of the national team. The majority of players would not make enough money to sustain themselves.

It's already possible for international doubles pairings to be formed, as we have seen Russia's Anastasia Russkikh play with Petya Nedelcheva(BUL) and Hendra Setiawan(INA)

[kwun]

there are different ways to see nationalism.

every professional player, whether in badminton or tennis or golf, are associated with some country. Sampras is American, Nadal is Spanish, Li Na is Chinese, Tiger Woods is American. there isn't much else you can do about that. While they do have their own coaches, what is really the root of the difference is that they are presented as individuals and the fans see them as individuals.

Do we really know where these players are from? i just found out that Nadal is Spanish, Federer is Swiss, and Djokovic is Serbian (really?), Hewitt is Australian. Tennis did well in not tightly associate the players from the country, and as a result, they became individuals. once they presented individuals, players will view them differently as they associate them as stars instead of "someone from China".

While the intrinsic excitement of a match between, say, Chen Long and Lin Dan isn't any worse than Sampras vs. Agassi, fans love watching Sampras vs. Agassi (whom i just found out is also American) as they view them as individual stars, while BCer loath watching yet oh another China vs. China match.

Nationalism is grown into the perception of badminton spectators, unfortunately. When many of us watch matches, we see China vs. Malaysia, Denmark vs. Indonesia instead of seeing the players playing against themselves.

Yes, there are the bad apples out there who throw matches or don't play as hard when they play their own comrades. But I have to ask though, will we view them any differently if they had different coaches and play hard against each other even when they are proudly displaying the same national flags in their jerseys, and the umpire still announce them as "Taufik Hidayat, Indonesia", and the on screen score board still show 2 red flags?

While i don't disagree with the OP on Nationalism, I think if we need to really take Nationalism away from badminton, we need a broader perspective on the root of the issue and tackle it from that direction.

[CantSmashThis]

I think it'll be hard for say doubles players from different countries to play with each other. Let's hypothetically say I'm one of the top doubles player and Fu Hai Feng and I want to partner. I live in America, he lives in China, unless one of us moves, our training time together is limited as to say him partnering up with Cai Yun who's from the same country. I'm not sure how many athletes would be willing to do that. I'd understand moving between states/provinces, but between continents/cultures etc. would be too different.

Anyways it would be more interesting if there were leagues and like in other professional sports as NFL, NHL, Soccer etc. you would be able to draft a team of Superstars, sign them to big contracts and have them compete in competitions during the season and then have them compete at the World Championships as the final event yearly. But like I mentioned above, that'll involve with a lot of players shifting around countries and what not.

[Borbor]

So why don't we have a situation where individual teams and singles players as free entities can compete much like they do in tennis. This way, instead of having nation-states dictate who wins and who loses, there's at least some form of a player's self-determination - and also the exciting possibility in doubles of players from different countries playing together.

Nationalism may have it's place, but increasingly I think it's maybe not akin to measles, but it's certainly a blight on the landscape.

What do you think?

Because you'll need very deep pockets to train players like you do in tennis. The money has to come from somewhere, so if it's not state sponsored (or gov't funded), well then it'll be parental sponsored Then we'll have threads like "It's time to end the game of the riches in badminton"

If you don't want to see nation-states dictate who wins and who loses, you
a) don't understand that to those states, the players are part of a TEAM, and they play to a bigger picture for the good of the team in some cases. Whether it be losing deliberately to a teammate so they can get more players in higher rankings to fill for OG spots

b) watch the internal games. The 12th national games in China is coming up; no national team orders there

[cobalt]

Soooo... will the entry of Adidas herald the beginning of the end of Nationalism in badminton?

[Cheung]

Soooo... will the entry of Adidas herald the beginning of the end of Nationalism in badminton?

That will, in part, depend on how much badminton can grow in it's mass appeal. The BWF YouTube venture has been very good. TV coverage is pretty poor in most countries and the Internet goes a long way into keeping mainstream interest.

[Cheung]

Soooo... will the entry of Adidas herald the beginning of the end of Nationalism in badminton?

That will, in part, depend on how much badminton can grow in it's mass appeal. The BWF YouTube venture has been very good. TV coverage is pretty poor in most countries and the Internet goes a long way into keeping mainstream interest.

[cobalt]

That will, in part, depend on how much badminton can grow in it's mass appeal. The BWF YouTube venture has been very good. TV coverage is pretty poor in most countries and the Internet goes a long way into keeping mainstream interest.

Still need primetime TV on the big channels, IMO. That's where the money is. You spend big bucks, you rake it in...

Tennis is loved by prime time because it's all sun and clouds, all shiny and wide expanses. Maybe some of the SS/SSP venuse should take a page and use open stadia with glassed-in courts?

Getting a bit OT, sorry about that Makilke....

[Borbor]

so the players are playing in a greenhouse?

i can't see how that'd be fun

Add the sun in the mix? Yah I'm sure they'd love that.

[cobalt]

Let me introduce you to a new concept.... it's called air conditioning...

On a slightly more serious note, have you watched squash championships? And squash is the one game that probably takes more out of the player than even badminton...

anyway, just throwing ideas around --- with the way technology and materials are improving almost every day, this may not be too far-fetched, believe me!