The past few years, being a part-time webmaster and reporter, there were plenty of ‘sagas’ or so called ‘politics’ that happened within the time span I was around covering the local athletics scene. Well it got me wondering, can we have sports any more without politics?

When I started out as a young fresh-faced eager journalist for this hobbyist website, I was thrust and exposed to the ‘politics’ itself. Being a ‘reporter’, I would most of the time listen when interviewing athletes, coaches and people when covering events over the years rather than giving my opinion as I’ve to be impartial and not objectionable for my articles … but the more I see of the ‘turmoil’ state of our local athletics scene is, I’m quite disappointed that it’s still the same ‘spiraling downhill’ state as it was back then when I started out.

‘Politics’ in my humble opinion muddles the very spirit of the sport and one of the cruelest form of sport injustice is during the 1966 Asian game final when the finish of a race was changed in 1965 after having been in force for many years. It was a 1-2 photo finish of 10.5s in the 100m. Kunalan and Jegathesan of Malaysia was inseparable at the finish line. After the officials reviewed the photo-finish, Jegathesan was declared the winner as his his neck was just in front of Kunalan’s shoulder although his shoulder was behind Kunalan’s. If the previous ruling was in force, Kunalan would have been awarded the win instead of Jegathesan. Ironically after the games, the previous ruling was restored and replaced the amended rule at another IAAF meeting in 1967.

Or how about the recent ‘Tragedy or Treachery’ article by one of our volunteer contributor. For the foreign visitors to this website, this is a case example of the kind of ‘politics’ our local athletics scene is experiencing, as it highlights some issues between the association and athlete. The article has generated a storm of controversy and comments. A lot of opinion was being brought up and put forth. I can’t really ascertain who’s at fault or which reasoning is valid, but it has come to a point where communication broke down between the two sides. And in the end, it’s the local sports fraternity who’s at loss due to ‘politics’.

Yes sports is brutal as we all try to outdo and beat each other, but I guess everyone is trying too hard to be politically correct at all times. Are we simply supporting a facade of being nice? Treat sports as what it really is: a battle of excellent talents. Please leave the ‘politics’ and dull speeches to the real politicians

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