A letter to Nathan Robertson Dear Mr. Nathan Robertson There may be a chance that you still remember me as I was a line judge in the Quarter-final of All England Badminton Open, when Gail Emms and you were playing against a Chinese pair, Gao Ling-Zheng Bo. In the second game, during a long rally, Zheng Bo cleared the shuttlecock to the left side of the court and landed exactly on the left side line. I gave it a strait arm signaling ‘in’ to the umpire, something appalling happened after I did my work: you stared and pointed at me with your racket in your hand and said loudly enough for the half of the court to hear ‘that is a Chinese!’ I have been always wondering what did you mean by ‘that is a Chinese!’ Did you mean I made the judgment in preference to the Chinese pair because I am a Chinese? That shuttle landed precisely on the line just in front of my eyes (and also yours), it was undoubtedly an ‘in’. In the following minute, the large screen TV also showed that I gave a right call by replaying the moment when the shuttle touched ground, the umpire also agreed with this judgment. This is my first time being a line judge, but I always said to myself that there should be no people or countries in my eyes but only that line I am on duty. Your game was not the only one which included Chinese players; I always gave the fact to the umpire without any prejudices or preferences, and this, I believe, can be approved by umpires and match videos. So did you mean that Chinese people should not be put on the court as line judges of All England Badminton Open? Almost all the line judges on the court were British except me and another Chinese girl, so you are telling me under such a condition, you, a British player surrounded by all these people, were facing an unfair situation? I think this was because you are too naïve to understand the “Olympic Spirit” of badminton games. What is the usage of line judges? Do you think we are selected out in order to help our own countries’ players to win the game? NO! We were people who vowed to be fair and just for every player, ignoring where are you from or who you are. In my opinion, England is a country breeds elegant ladies and gentlemen; your partner Gail Emms is such a good example. When I was in China watching your game, people all liked her as she is not only good in playing but also superb in personality. If you can learn a little bit about how to be a nicer person from her, you wound not do and say something like this today. I do not consider this as a coincidence if someone wanted to say that you always behaved nicely but at that moment you were out of control. In the third game, you smashed the shuttle and it landed outside the baseline, the line judge watching that line gave an ‘out’ signal; almost at the same time the Chinese player Zheng Bo yelled out as he also thought that was an ‘out’. What did you do? You walked up to the umpire and said “Can you tell him to SHUT THE **** UP when the shuttle is close to the line!” What can I say? Can you use an more rude way to express your feeling even if you are right? Plus he definitely did not mean to affect the line judge; people are not as bad as you think, he was releasing his nerves by yelling out loud! Further more, we line judges knew what were we doing, any influences trying to affect the judgment would be minimized with all our efforts. Both these two incidences showed that you did not trust line judges; you think everyone was doing something against you, and only yourself have the right judgments! Then why do you need line judges? Why do not you play all by yourself and call ‘in’ or ‘out’ as you wish? It is so unprofessional. Indeed I heard some players also swore when they play bad or thought the line judge was wrong, but they did not swear to people! They might say something such as ‘damn it’ or ‘****’, but I never heard one of them saying words like ‘tell him shut the **** up’ or ‘that is a Chinese/British/Japanese/Malaysian’. They swore because they thought they play badly, you swore because you want to find some excuses: the line judge is not English, the light is shinny, your opponent is doing something affecting the judges, etc, typical behavior of a coward. Cannot you just bravely take the responsibility and blame on your own unreliability? People who play badminton are usually polite and gentle. Peter Gade, Erricson, Lungard, Bao Chunlai, Tony, Kennith, Gail, Lee Chongwei, Wong Chonghan……The better they play, the nicer their personalities are. In my opinion, you own the personality of a hooligan, you do not trust line judges, you are rude, you are always searching for someone to blame, and I doubt you are an ethic discriminator. Your badminton skill is neither not that well as you think; your smash is as soft as an armature’s even your partner Gail has a more efficient shot. How come you consider yourself as one of the world top players? You are too far away from them. Best wishes. Yours sincerely Line Judge
OOOooouch!!! That sounds so bad, but we all know that isn't true. I doubt amateur players can smash even close to 240km/hr... The real best player should be a singles player, whom rely on nobody but his/her own skill and effort(put aside the coaching part). All double players should only be regarded as a TEAM !!! unless you are like Tony Gunawan whom can win with almost any partner.
With reference to this part of your letter. I do not consider this as a coincidence if someone wanted to say that you always behaved nicely but at that moment you were out of control. In the third game, you smashed the shuttle and it landed outside the baseline, the line judge watching that line gave an ‘out’ signal; almost at the same time the Chinese player Zheng Bo yelled out as he also thought that was an ‘out’. What did you do? You walked up to the umpire and said “Can you tell him to SHUT THE **** UP when the shuttle is close to the line!” What can I say? Can you use an more rude way to express your feeling even if you are right? Plus he definitely did not mean to affect the line judge; people are not as bad as you think, he was releasing his nerves by yelling out loud! Zheng Bo yelled "out" to influence the judges decision and Nathan pointed this out and if you look at the replay it was in and cost the English the game so let's not talk about unfair. As far as your job goes if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen. You have to understand this is the pinnacle of the sport and people will get heated. I did'nt hear him say anything but I am not saying he did'nt. Another thing the part where you have said "Your badminton skill is neither not that well as you think; your smash is as soft as an armature’s even your partner Gail has a more efficient shot. How come you consider yourself as one of the world top players? You are too far away from them." This does not sound like what a line judge should be saying I think you are very unprofessional and should have taken it up with Nathan after the match and not on here when he is out of sight. There is only one coward and I am afraid it's you.
Intimidation of the line judges is wrong. Cursing themselves is quite common in the heat of the moment. But as you say linejudge Personal insinuation that a line judge is biased is unacceptable and should be punished-Did you inform the umpire after the game? I feel you may be reducing yourself to his level in your last few sentences however. Whilst he does have a high opinion of himself and a very poor professional attitude (see the links below) he cannot be described as "amateur". http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=32090&highlight=robertson+attitude http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=29800&highlight=robertson+attitude http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=29808&highlight=robertson+attitude
Please understand the difference between influencing the linejudge (which may well not be the case- it is natural to call out when you see the shuttle landing out) and insulting the linejudge and accusing him of cheating. Just beacause it is the Pinnacle of sport does not allow innocent volunteers to be abused by the players.
Well at this level people get hot and if you put yourself in that position it comes with the job. Zheng Bo did try to influence the judge he made a mistake by letting it hit the line and then wanted to cover up so let's not go there.
I am afraid this is not an excuse of his appalling behaviour, plus, this is very unprofessional, few high level players do things like this.
"People?" please give examples of other professional players that have abused Linespeople by insulting them PERSONALLY (not just arguing that it was out or in) It is well known that Nathan has a poor attitude to training, losing, and now it seems the very people that allow him to play the game which pays him well.
240 km/hr is so softy for a man, as far as I know, men's smash speed are usually close to 300 km/hr, 240 is often found in women's double.
he's not saying that amateurs can smash 240km/hr, i think he's trying to say that for a guy who's ranked top 10 in XD, a 240km/hr smash is relatively slow compared to what some other guys are hitting.
The 240km/hr was just a figure I made up, and was not in reference in the original post of this thread. When the original poser mentioned that Nathan's smashes are weak as amateurs, I just used 240 as an example... Nathan should at least smash around 270 on average, whereas most amateur can hardly get around 210km/hr in reality... (figures are estimated, not facts)
I think the poser has indeed involved in some personal emotion but try to think from his point of view, if you are assulted in this way, what will you do?
Hi Line Judge ! I just want to say here, you have all my support. It's just disgusting, being insulted like that, if we can find out with the video when he said that ... I really think punishment must be given. He didn't only insult your work but it's just racism and it can't be accepted. Players nowadays think they have all the power on court, now they just don't care about the umpire, and on top of that the insult VOLUNTEER ! which are here only to help, make THE PLAYERS having a better week during a tournament ! Hope Mr Roberston will read that letter and just give his apologize to you and ALL line judge around the world.
I do not agree with you coz as I know, the line judge tried to find Nathan after the game, but he could not. Maybe Nathan fled away from him?
Line judges should be challenged, but not abused Hi line_judge, So sorry for you...... to be in that situation. I am in favour of players to challenge line judges' calls, but without any rude behaviour. And, I am an advocate for TV replay to make the final decision. I hope that very soon BWF will allow TV replays to support all our line judges' calls. Line judges should be challenged, but not abused !!! Cheers... chris@ccc
I agree. Line judging is mentally strenuous, stressful, and it's admirable that anyone volounteers to do it at all. Getting angry at a line judge is totally unacceptable. As was mentioned, though, I feel your personal dig against Robertson's skills do counteract the merit of your point, unfortunately. Also... Roberston himself is not likely to see this, just to throw that out there.
Oh yeah it is~! As much as I wanted to relax, I still find it stressful at times. Its not only a matter between winning or losing, its their career too. So its very important that we stay focus and make a quick call to avoid doubt from settling. Heck I even lost weight being in AE for a week.
i agree with chris@ccc that if a player is not happy with the the line judge's judgement, he do have the right to protest. but only protest politely and only to the umpire and not pointing, yelling at the linejudge. I believe any yelling or rude comments towards the linejudge should be strictly penalized as that should be considered an attempt to influence the linejudge, who are neutral party in the match. we just have to look at the de facto gentleman of badminton, Peter Gade, to learn what proper manners are. he have had many line calls that from his point of view are incorrect and not to his favor. he always consult with the umpire. even the Chinese players, despite what other antics some people object to, I have not seen them yelling snide comments to the linejudges when they don't like the line calls.