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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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2 voted, 4.5/5
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it can happen to any athlete or any person who opposses them. well if ‘they’ can change the rule as they frequently does so at their whim, wat makes u think there will be changes with them still at the helm. last year sing open, for many donkeys years we we able to send our poly teams to compete, then suddenly a new ruling states onli nat. teams are allowed, not sch teams or clubs allowed to compete. no accouncement made, no transparency in their decisions. very ’shady’ i tink
Well i was surprised myself when I also can’t send my own team for the relays. I ran it before and it’s one of the few races locally we can run against the ‘big boys’. I was disappointed at the new ruling. I hope there will be amendments.
wAt PoLitIcS?
Stick around for a few more years ok kid
The question should be rather “what can you do for the nation” rather than “what the nation can do for you”
Hmmm… I would think our China-born athletes had done enough to garner medals for Singapore at the SEA Games and various international championships to make our tiny island-nation a tad more visible on the sporting map. So i guess they’ve done their part for the nation. So now the real question is: What has the nation done for them?
So i guess it’s a bit irrelevant to cite John F. Kennedy here cos the situation is obviously very different.
With the nickname you’ve used there, I’m sure you know of the local track & field state. Maybe you’re not Singaporean? Well I don’t know … but the state of our local athletics needs a ‘kick in the butt’. That’s how I feel. It’s full of potential but there’s so many obstacles that’s holding it back
[…] After reading the above, it does raise a couple of justifiable issues. With the SEA Games coming up, I’m pretty sure all the ‘drama’ will ensues soon enough. From the new Point System selection criteria, to our ‘excellent’ facilities, the foreign athletes training’ on our fine world class shores […]
[…] We just hope, more of our National athletes will qualify and hopefully there won’t be any more ala Dong Enxin incident. That would be the cruelest of sports injustice, to qualify but the association ‘forget’ to include them for the squad. […]
[…] raise a couple of justifiable issues. With the SEA Games coming up, I’m pretty sure all the ‘drama’ will ensues soon enough. From the new Point System selection criteria, to our […]