Wimbledon Elite- elite player withdrawal

[wags]

I was at the Wimbledon Elite tournament on the weekend, and I was looking forward to see how good our elite players were playing at the moment. However, to my astonishment there were only a handful of top players present. What a shame!!!

I was even more upset to hear that Mr Rob Blair felt it was more important to feign an injury and pull out of the tournament at short notice and play in Germany instead.

Does he and the other elite players not value home tournaments anymore. I was under the impression the elite players were obligated to play the elite tournaments. I must have this wrong.

What do other people think!!

[aragon]

I think that this is not on,he comes from Scotland takes our money deprives an English player of a space in the England team and then rips us off,great.
Well John gurling there was me believing your story about the English players training to hard and having to pull out through injury,tell us all what the BAOE will do now John?

[TrickyDicky]

If that's true, it's shocking.

Coming from Scotland to play for England..., taking the lottery money.... then not even bothering to play in a BAofE tournament.

Maybe he is thinking of playing for Germany now...

[thomasjohn]

I think its bad also,i am a member of Wimbledon and have never seen our top players before and thought this was a good chance to see them.I came down on the sunday for the finals to find that there was none of the top stars apart from Hallam in it because they had all pulled out.
Why do we pay the BAOE our subscription fees for them to do nothing but except these clearly lying players.

[neiltompson]

if this is true then he must have had a doctors certificate or the BAOE physio's Cert so how valied are these people,last i heard the players were very good friends with the physio's at MK obviously too good a friends.
The plot thickens?

[ixxychicken]

it is a good win for both Tobey Honey and Liz Cann, havingboth won the singles titles.
But are their results marred by the fact that so many players dropped out or pulled out due to 'injuries'?

also, i assumed this tournament was set up to improve the quality of badminton in england and give more opportunities for the playing public to com and watch. However, there was a very small audience at wimbledon consisting mainly of BAofE people and players family!

it seems to me that this tournament was not very well publicised!

[williamwallace]

ive just heard the comments about my pulling out of the elite tournament at the weekend and very sorry that you english feel this way.i was fortunate enough to view the draw prior to the weekend and felt that it lacked any depth of substantial competition for my ability of play.i know nathan was playing but it was predictable that his arm would not last the entirity of the competition.the only other reasonable players in the tournament were ian palethorpe,kristan roebuck and paul trueman and to be honest i dont feel that i would have gained any benefit from playing against these.therefore i travelled to the bunders league where i was able to play at the same time as making a handsome reward-far superior to the measly prize money on offer at the wimbledon elite.any person who says that they would have played despite the possibility of only earning a tenth of the money is lying and there comments should not be taken seriously!again, appologies for pulling out but i did what i had to do to make myself more financially stable!

[CLARKY]

I am very sure that the post from rob blair is not the actual ROBERT BLAIR, I am very good friends with rob and know that he would not put comments like that. I have seen quite a few posts of this nature and they are not always by the people they say they are. There are so many false names on this web site it is becoming a bit of a joke something needs to be done to stop this.

[Site Support]

Anthony, the post was removed as soon as we saw it.

As always we try and remove the duplicitous posts but the odd one does slip through.

We view this as one of the most childish things to do on a forum but there is no accounting for the intelligence and maturity of some people.

[JoWright]

It is a real shame that many of the top players were forced to pull out of the elite open.However after a very hectic schedule of major international events in the past 7 weeks obviously some injuries have been sustained. It is unfortunate that wimbledon suffered as a result of this but speaking for myself after injuring my knee in the first of the above 6 competitions and needing to play them all I felt it important to take this short break in international competition to rest my injury and get back to full fitness again. We leave for the far east again in ten days time and we are trying and we are trying to qualify for the olympics so surely this must take priority?

[Khalid]

Tournament was publicised fairly extensively within the club which has over 1500 members split between squash, badminton and gym.

I would have liked to have seen more people there on the Sunday (Saturday seemed quite busy).

It would be interesting to hear from folks on the attendance figures at other Grand Slam/Elite events and what they do to promote the event and facilities provided.

Re results .. dont forget Toby had to beat the England No2 to get to the finals and Liz had to beat the England No1 to win. So in the end their result does have some significant merit.

[ians]

elite tournaments have virtually no bearing on int selection.unless the ba of e secure sponsorship and massively increase prize money then top players don't have the incentive to play.why should a top player who is trying to earn a living give up the chance to earn £300-600 a match in germany to play in a tournament that has no or little media coverage,very small prize money and no real influence on int selection?if the ba of e secured good media coverage and raised prize money,then maybe top players would play in them.but i think this is unlikely as i don't recall the ba of e having a marketing team!!

[SUPERTED]

It seems to me that some people do not understand that most badminton players do not earn alot of money and have a relatively short career. As a result of this, when the oppertunity comes around to play in an Elite tournament and win enough money to cover the costs of playing in the tournament (just), or play in the German league and earn a substantial garenteed income, the choice as im sure anyone who is being honest with themselves is not a difficult one to make. This is not to say that players feel they are to good to play in these tournaments, i myself would rather play in these tournaments than travel to Germany. However the promotion of these tournaments over the last few years has been rather poor. Advertising takes place at the venue sure enough, but what about the surrounding clubs,schools and neighbouring counties? Where are the spectators? Why isn`t there a big sponsor able to boost prize money and make it more attractive to the top players who everybody wants to see perform? Finally, when players are told that these tournaments are not considered as important when it comes to the selections for squads the importance of these tournaments sufers. Something needs to be done to make these tournaments more attractive if the top players are wanted to participate.

[ians]

totally agree with you dave.why doesn't the ba of e have a dedicated media dept?this is supposed to be a professional sport?! look forward to a more indepth discussion with you on thursday night dave

[SUPERTED]

Thankyou Ian, I do remember a certain man,(wore very nice ties!) malcolm i think his name was, who was employed to promote badminton........did a great job! remember him? Look forward to our Gym session on thurs,im sure we will dicuss it more then. Is Mr.P joining us for a work out?

[southernmonkey]

Guys guys guys your breaking are hearts,so what you are saying is that its ok to lie.For me you have chosen your careers and these are not bad jobs to have.You have the rest of your lives to work in a normal job and you know it so lets cut the crap excuses.
Rob has lied and now has been caught out,i agree however that schedules are hard now but thiats the fault of the BAOE.They make these rules which you have to follow and clearly are not doing so.
6 years ago you had to play at least 5 top England tournaments now only 2 so come on guys, your english loyal fans wana put faces to names not just read about you in here.

[michellehills]

I say kick him out the BAofE.

If this is true the 'man' has no shame.

[michellehills]

Has this been proven true about Rob Blair?

[eddyhang]

I must admit I am also in full support of dave and ian. The fact is badminton has no media coverage cos the image of the game to your average kid on the street is laughable. It doesn't help though that the only badminton they come into contact with is generally poor quality club badminton played at the local leisure centre.

Any way I must remark on the athleticism and speed of Neil Waterman and Peter Knowles. Surely a good outside bet for the nationals title. Any thoughts?

[danbecks]

Whats that got to do with the scots man pulling out and playing in germany eddy?

[PeteG]

In fairness Dan, I think the point about Robert Blair has been made. Ok, maybe it does show questionable ethics, but the case from his fellow professionals shows things from his side. We all know badminton does not get anywhere near the coverage it deserves, if it did then the money and sponsorship would exist and there would hopefully be no need for the top players to ply their trade abroad.

[danbecks]

Sorry peter
i didnt mean it like that. Was really asking what had been done about it. I agree with you on the money issue.

[PeteG]

As for Ixxy Chicken's comments regarding Toby Honey's and Elizabeth Cann's results, go to the BAofE site and look at the results!!
Ok, there was a high dropout rate, with Simon Archer, Nathan Rice, Andrew South being the most noticable absentees (two of the three being seeds and Archer of course being a big name in general), but Honey was still seeded 4 so was not due to meet either Rice or South until the final. In fact, Aamir Ghaffar was still in as top seed and Honey beat him anyway, which was a good win regardless of how you look at it! Not only that but he won the third to 2!!!
As for Elizabeth Cann, she beat the form player at the moment, Tracy Hallam, which is a great result either way you look at it. Tracy again, was still seeded top player regardless of who pulled out.
If anything it was the mixed which was worst affected with Emms and Robertson pulling out, meaning that Foster and Rayappan didn't play a game until the final.

[PeteG]

Just read your response Dan, in which case, yeah I understand what your saying from a disciplinary point of view, but again I would suggest that the player is in a difficult enough situation already if he has to make a decision to play in Germany or not in order to pay the rent?

[danbecks]

Problem was that alot of people had been told about the top players playing and were very disapointed when they arrived to see the big names not there.

[PeteG]

Thats fair enough Dan, although what about promoting the top events first (i.e. getting the Nationals, All England, etc more coverage and trying to boost the interest more there first of all and then filtering it down the system. We need the interest at grass roots and national level, but the international game is what needs to be brought to the attention of the mass viewing audiences first of all.
Exhibitions would be a good way forward, it seems to work to raise the popularity of sports such as baseball, basketball, football and tennis to name a few. It would probably require some collaboration from national associations to organise, but if it can be set up, then it would possibly work. Even if it involves using recently retired national players. Just people who are available to travle and play.

[danbecks]

Totally Pete.

[Michael Banks]

This is what George Frith did very successfully this year. Don't know if he plans on doing anymore - he's gone a bit quiet on us recently ;)

[GeorgeFrith]

I have gone quiet because I am very busy in my day to day working and private life.

I have run 3 of these now since Rexy's arrival with him being the contact with the England players.

It is a mammoth task to organise these exhibitions on my own. The BA of E telling me 5 days before the event that I can't use England players unless I pay a sanction fee doesn't exactly help either!

At the end of the day, I feel its not my job to put these exhibitions on. You would think that someone at the BA of E would cotton on to their popularity (211 attended the last one in June) as well as being an effective means of bringing top class badminton to the public thereby helping to dispell the low kudos of the sport. They should be the ones running these around the country not me. After all they have the resources both financial and manpower. (and don't give me the sob story of how busy they all are at Milton keynes if I can run 3 of these entirely on my own, then the national governing body should be able to surely!!!!)

Not even a thank you from the BA of E after the event! What gratitude when you try and do something to promote the sport to the public. I get the distinct feeling throughout all this that they feel embarrased that I can successfully run these as a sole individual when it is their responsibility.

I must apologise for coming entirely off the thread.

As for the next exhibition, time permitting, I do intend to run another.

Watch this space!

[southernmonkey]

No george you have done well son.
You have the right to speak your mind, lets just hope the BAOE are listening or their spokesman.

[ians]

has anybody got any idea who the spokesperson is? i was there for 7 years and i still don't know who it is

[Khalid]

George,

I think you have done well to promote the sport inspite of what might appear to be the efforts of others to undermine your approach.

Its probably just professional jealousy.

[southernmonkey]

Sullivan my son, you dont look hard enough.
george, keep it up my old mate. dont let those b*****ds grind you down.

[ians]

how do you look for something thats not there monkey?

[CATWEAZLE]

Dave Lindley, i know you dont earn a lot of money. Do you still have the worlds biggest mobile phone??????

[CATWEAZLE]

I hear there is a living legend making his comeback at the Yorkshire Elite. Be afraid, be very afraid. Ive got front row tickets if anybody wants them!

[Kapow]

Hello.

Living legend is one - me. Making comeback in my own school.

All you shuttlers make many noises here yet for me and fello country men we need show results.

I came here in England as 19 years boy and beat evryone! Now this was result. You ask your own official Steven Baddley as he was victum to me as I brandished my racket like a blodgen.

You all get on and have good results then shout load. Until then you listen to you best shuttlers like Darren Hall and Peter Knowles. These men very good in the days then. Now nobody match they skill and international level.

I read here and fed up with you all critise each other. No ruddy good! You concentrate on you game and get good and then smile.

Good luck and may fortune fall on you who work hardt.

Thank you for you time reading but pleas note this words.

This is good site and pleas not abuse with rubbish.

[SUPERTED]

I`ve still got the phone in question but unfortunately the brick no longer works!

[bobmint]

i'v heard that the "legend" is Jon Lewis, but i also heard that he lost to an under 17 at the yorkshire restricted, BE VERY AFRAID!!!!!!!!!