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.
I feel your pain, and I do agree such issue will bring some negative image to the sport. However, 1. Poor badminton popularity (in western nations) is not due to this incident. Even if we have some superior heart warming outcome instead, I doubt the image will get boosted up instantly. If a sport can be effect by 1 single event, then after Tony / Howard win WC2005, you should see US should long become badminton power house with the "boost". Same as, basketball, football, baseball will long be gone, consider that many "pros" from each sport generate much worse public attention (drug, robbery, DWI, etc) on a daily base. 2. Yes, the incident is not here to be encouraged. However, if the 8 players (and coaches) play all out in the last meaningless group match, but lost (or eliminate their teammates) in the medal round. Will you or any of us fans, willing to stand out, and tell their bosses to keep their job? Even if we are willing to stand out and help, I doubt about the result. Do I encourage such behavior? Absolutely not. However, if I got stuck in such a situation (thanks for IOC/BWF), I am not sure I can handle it in a better way, either.
The biggest effect this has had on me? I would have to say that its the smug feeling of being able to say I told you so to quite a few of you clowns after making the point that such match fixing was bad for the game as it occurred over and over again these last few years while the clowns on this FOB just made excuse after excuse. <== That's the new multi-smiley for smug.
on a personal level i'm devastated that the korean cuties were complicit in the match fixing. i even skipped a day of drop-in badminton due to shock
Just something to talk about this week at the badminton gym, then move on. Interestingly enough, most people I know that play badminton at an advance level don't really follow Professional Badminton that closely. Most badminton outsiders I talk to are sympathetic to the players, after I explain the nuance of the situation to them.
If you want a "warm-up" round go to double-elimination. Round-robin format is incredibly stupid for this event and the organizers are entirely to blame, not the players.
The effect is, the WD final will be more enjoyable ....... because it is a battle between two countries.
There's a simple fix that should of been implemented in all RR. Top finishers go into fish bowl A (ensure they don't meet each other right away in top 16). Not so hot/lucky finishers who just qualified go into fish bowl B. 1 - 16... DRAW... invite a cute little 6 year old dressed in a pink Sunday dress (optional: with Terminal Illness) to do the draws. You can't blame a kid for match fixing can you?? CAN YOU?? Hey, IOC can gain publicity by providing under privilege children an chance to attend their spectacle of elite sportsmanship and make sure no QQing at the final 16 stage after RR... How they failed to think of this with their years of experience at tournament organizing is beyond me.
I'm guessing your failure to read the topic of this thread is rooted in being the recipient of an American public school education.
i am somewhat glad that i have an opportunity to talk about badminton amongst my friends. even tho the cause of discussions is negative, i was able to educate them what badminton is about and the different formats of tournaments and how teams crawl through loopholes to gain more favorable positions. i was also surprised that some of my badminton buddies don't really follow professional badminton and the first reaction they had was "ban the players!". LOL i also had the chance to play devil's advocate in which if my friends favor one position of this fiasco, i would argue for the other side, and because i'm torn myself, i would like to be convinced that one side is more "innocent" than the other. i believe that any opportunity that gives us a chance to talk about badminton is a good opportunity
In the last couple of days it's been interesting having a chat about badminton with people who aren't normally interested. A chance to educate those people so i guess that's a plus. Porblem is how many people are going to get a chance to be educated by a badminton fan vs how many will just pick up the bad impressions and not get a balanced view. . .
it will break badmintoncentral's record for having most number of thread regarding this matter. by the way, title is wrong. should be WD(women's double) instead of WS. proposed : will BWF stand up against match fixing scandal in future?
They would have to in future to keep any credibility this event has earned them. But first things first, they need to fix the format. Random draws after RR if they wish to keep RR for more ratings/tickets sales.
First off...BWF needs to man the @#@# up, come out and admit that their format was HORRENDOUS. Match making/fixing is not unique to badminton, in fact its in almost every sport. "It's all about the gold" i'm sure you've heard that many times on many different broadcasts when covering any sporting event. This is no different. Its not about the process, but rather the finale. "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 don't know where to start with this one... many people are speaking out against the BWF's decision to DQ, not because they are in love with Chinese badminton in fact, what you're saying is a borderline blanket statement. Me as well as many others are speaking out because the FORMAT of the tournament is stupid. If YOU were one of the players, would you want a better chance @ gold? i mean the OG is one of the most prestigious medals you can get as a badminton player. Since you're playing career is so short. 1-2 OGs is likely and a 3rd OG is pretty impossible if you're playing in one of the powerhouse nation's camps.
