Bring back the Biff

Much as I sympathsie with Ben I feel he will - and should - take further punishment for this.  No matter what the situation, or who you are, you can't just climb into someone else's boat and give them a fairly robust piece of your mind.  It's just not acceptable. 

The RYA and his sponsors have made Ben the 'poster boy' of the dinghy sailing world, and 100s of kids up and down the country will have his picture on their wall.  These kids will know what he has done and they need to see action taken against him, as it would be against any other sailor, and rightly so.

What I notice from my morning's perusal of facebook over my ready brek, is how many of my young sailing friends have instantly befriended Giles Scott.  I wonder if Ben is now yesterday's man? 


Edited by winging it - 12 Dec 11 at 9:44am

Originally posted by winging it   The RYA and his sponsors have made Ben the 'poster boy' of the dinghy sailing world, and 100s of kids up and down the country will have his picture on their wall.  These kids will know what he has done and they need to see action taken against him, as it would be against any other sailor, and rightly so.

If they don't take more action then I will be very surprised - in some ways they have to, because all other sailors who have misbehaved in such a way get bans, why shouldn't he?

Yes, the kids see much worse around them, but usually by footballing idiots who they despise anyway.  It won't help them to see one of their heroes get treated leniently just because of who he has become.

I have taken part in championships - including worlds - where I have been totally illegally shafted by the actions of others, but I've never sailed up and boarded their boats to have words with them.  Nor would I have been lying second at the time - if I had been (and there would also have been a second coming) then I would have kept my head down and gone with it.

Originally posted by Vronny Are our professional sailors now expected to put up with this because if they don't, the TV coverage will be damaged and sailing will be dropped from the olympics? What voice do the sailors have in the organisation of such events?

you've nailed it... in one word, 'professional' and when professionalism slips, the media interest will spike... but not necessarily for the right reasons. The most watched clip of the 2006 kevball world cup- that bit when Ronaldo antagonises Rooney and he gets red-carded in the England vs Portugal quarters.

IMO BA has just got a yellow card, this World Champs is only part of the psychological build up to Weymouth... but it will be interesting to see whether any international pressures bring a red card out in due course.



I don't have a view on it really, it seems an impossible situation for the sailors, but I guess sh*t happens in sport at this level and they more than anyone else, need to adapt to media interest. What I do think is really positive was the way the RYA (SP) has come out defending his man in the media- it shows true camaraderie amongst Team GB and it demonstrates when pushed, the RYA will back their sailors over their media interests. A more media established organisation may have distanced themselves, especially when they've got more than an heir and spare for Ainslie's throne.

Fast forward to August 2012....

TV boat dashes Ainslie's hopes for GOLD!

TV boat dashes Goodison's hopes for GOLD!

Etc.

This could/may happen with ISAF's sweeping decision to modify the rules in such a way that there are no rights to request redress for a situation entirely outside the control of a competitor.    ISAF need to get a grip on media boats and ensure that this situation just can't happen.

 Even worse, they have opened up the possibility for a media boat to deliberately impede a boat's speed?  I, for one, would love to see a statement from those who were on board the TV boat that started all of this!  FYI I heard from a friend, who saw the sequence of events that led to this, on Dutch TV and he was in no doubt that the RIB did impede Ben's performance.  That, from what I understand, was in spite of requests to get out of the way.