mindfields
Regular Member
What will the effect of the WD scandal have on you?
The Facility that I play at is volunteer run with some funding from BoE (Middx County is based here)
The people that help run it have worked so hard over the years and managed to do wonders with limited funding in expanding the building/adding a more courts & keeping the place open.
After a poor england medal tally at the China olympics funding for UK Badminton was cut by £500k. That's obviously had an impact on us nationally. If Badminton loses olympic status the rest of the 3.4m annual budget is at risk. Even as it is with the reputation of the game in question keeping that budget so that it doesn't get re-directed to other sports is going to be a challenge.
Demand for TV coverage in the UK is poor and interest in the All England at a local level is pretty low. A positive image of the game drums up interest and potentially attracts additional investment into the game. Negative media coverage just keeps us down.
At a personal level, My company allows us to volunteer for local groups and I've managed to organise volunteer days at our badminton facility with colleagues to help lower the cost of maintaining it. Trying to drum up support for that has been a major challenge as a lot of people don't see sports as a priority (We primarily help the Downs Syndrome Society now). With the buzz in the office now I think it'll be next to impossible to drum up enthusiasm to help. Dealing with perceptions of badminton as a back garden knockaround is something that we've all probably had to deal with. Now we have to deal with our top players being seen as unprofessional.
So to recap & for the WD players if they ever read this. .
Throwing a badminton match on the olympic stage in the hopes of a better chance at a gold medal:
You screwed the fans in the stadium who paid to be there.
You screwed the fans around the world who wanted to watch a beautiful game.
You screwed the grass roots players in all the countries that are struggling with Badminton's profile.
Your actions put at risk the continued running of badminton centers, coaching & development of young players. The continued running of the facility that I play at partially relies on on funding that is influenced by the sports perception.
If you love badminton then it's global, not just glory for chinese badminton. There are ramifications of what you've done that effect all of us. . .
I hope somehow the professional bodies/players read this & understand how important they are at representing our sport. Understand the disappointment and anger from the fans/players.
The Facility that I play at is volunteer run with some funding from BoE (Middx County is based here)
The people that help run it have worked so hard over the years and managed to do wonders with limited funding in expanding the building/adding a more courts & keeping the place open.
After a poor england medal tally at the China olympics funding for UK Badminton was cut by £500k. That's obviously had an impact on us nationally. If Badminton loses olympic status the rest of the 3.4m annual budget is at risk. Even as it is with the reputation of the game in question keeping that budget so that it doesn't get re-directed to other sports is going to be a challenge.
Demand for TV coverage in the UK is poor and interest in the All England at a local level is pretty low. A positive image of the game drums up interest and potentially attracts additional investment into the game. Negative media coverage just keeps us down.
At a personal level, My company allows us to volunteer for local groups and I've managed to organise volunteer days at our badminton facility with colleagues to help lower the cost of maintaining it. Trying to drum up support for that has been a major challenge as a lot of people don't see sports as a priority (We primarily help the Downs Syndrome Society now). With the buzz in the office now I think it'll be next to impossible to drum up enthusiasm to help. Dealing with perceptions of badminton as a back garden knockaround is something that we've all probably had to deal with. Now we have to deal with our top players being seen as unprofessional.
So to recap & for the WD players if they ever read this. .
Throwing a badminton match on the olympic stage in the hopes of a better chance at a gold medal:
You screwed the fans in the stadium who paid to be there.
You screwed the fans around the world who wanted to watch a beautiful game.
You screwed the grass roots players in all the countries that are struggling with Badminton's profile.
Your actions put at risk the continued running of badminton centers, coaching & development of young players. The continued running of the facility that I play at partially relies on on funding that is influenced by the sports perception.
If you love badminton then it's global, not just glory for chinese badminton. There are ramifications of what you've done that effect all of us. . .
I hope somehow the professional bodies/players read this & understand how important they are at representing our sport. Understand the disappointment and anger from the fans/players.
Last edited:
