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Not sure if this should be in Politics or Sports. Move if need be.
Wimbledon announced yesterday they are banning Russian and Belarusian players from this year’s tournament. I agree with the decision and was surprised how many people on social media are AGAINST the decision. What are your thoughts? |
| Fine by me, because it continues to raise awareness about the f'd up things both those countries are doing with respect to Ukraine. |
| Great decision! Who in the world is against it? |
| good. The UK should ban entry by Russians and Belorussians period |
| Despicable! What did the athletes do other than having family and friends in Russia? |
Quite a lot of the sporting world including most of the tennis world, both the men's tour (ATP tour) and the women's tour (WTA tour) that represent the non-grand slam tennis tournaments and the bulk of professional tennis world wide. Plus many other athletes from other sports are also supportive of the players. The problem is that tennis is not a nationally sponsored sport. Tennis is largely individuals from around the world that compete on a tour They individually choose which tournaments on which continents to play. They hire their own teams of coaches, trainers, practice partners. They travel on their own. They are more like independent contractors than as representatives of their country. This is not like World Cup or Olympic teams which often are sponsored by the governments of their countries. Additionally the athletes have no voice and often are very apolitical. There are very few ties between the athletes and their native governments, and many of the athletes don't even live in their home country much, if at all. Many tennis players move to and live in areas where there are good sports supports including academies, training facilities, etc. Many of the international athletes live in the US or Monaco (Monte Carlo), Paris or other locations where they can locate and be central to many tournaments or training facilities. Because they are largely independent of their governments and are not sponsored, nor do they share their winnings with their home nation (other than through taxation), it is not making a particularly big statement against Russia or Belarus to be banning these players from playing. What the ATP and WTA tour has enacted is that these players can continue to compete on the tour but may not play under their national flag. They play under a neutral, non-national flag right now. It is essentially like they are homeless by national origin for the duration. The actions that Wimbledon is taking does not punish or protest against the Russian or Belarussian governements other than decreasing the taxation on any winnings these players may have earned at the tournament. This is entirely different than banning national representative teams from international sport. |
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It is simple then. Drop Russian citizenships. You are a citizen of a State that invaded another State because you want their land and resources, and you are willing to kill thousands to get your way.
If a rich athlete who is a citizen of such a country wants to avoid the obvious ramifications of being a citizen of that country they can renounce their citizenship and apply to become a citizen of another country. Easy. Don’t want to renounce your citizenship? Then you don’t get to participate in activities taking place outside of your country. Do you think McDonalds had much say in Russia’s attack on Ukrain? Yet, McDonalds is taking a $500,000,000 hit. Similarly, many other people and entities in the US and around the world. |
You realize that for the vast majority, you can't just renounce your citizenship until you actually have been accepted by another nation for citizenship. In many countries, you have to have justification and the application process can take years. Wimbledon is in 3 months. There is no country that will accept your application for citizenship and process it in 3 months so that you have it in time for a sporting event. If they renounce their Russian or Belarussian citizenship before they travel to the UK, then they will lose their current passport and not even be able to apply for Visas. If they go to the UK and then renounce their national citizenship, then they will be stranded in Russian while they apply for UK citizenship. And they will have no reason to need UK citizenship other than that they are physically there. Most nations require you to have a reason, whether you work there, or study there, to apply and be accepted for citizenship. If they travel to the UK and then drop their national citizenship, they are essentially becoming indigent. There are only a handful of tennis tournaments in the UK over a 2 week period in June. And technically, if they have no citizenship, they will not be authorized to work in the UK and they may not be able to play any of the tournaments. Tennis players get special visas so that they can enter foreign countries and play in that nation and earn money. The money is taxed and then when they file their taxes at home, they have the documentation to exempt the earnings from additional taxes based on paying foreign tax. If they have no citizenship, their passports will be revoked along with any Visas that they used to enter the country and they will not be allowed to play in the tournaments. Your suggestion is naive and ignorant of the way sovereign nations regulations on entrance to countries, passports, visas and work within foreign countries works. |
that should be Britain |
Boo hoo! Sorry my sympathy is all used up by the atrocities being committed by their countrymen. If they’re using their platforms to speak out, if not-turns the breaks. |
There are plenty of countries that will give citizenship to people who have assets and clean criminal records |
Should other countries have done the same thing to American athletes when the US invaded Iraq? |
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I just can't help but think these extreme sanctions are the "nice way" to make life so uncomfortable for all Russian citizens they revolt against leaders/their army will be less and less motivated to fight hard against Ukraine.
Strike the tennis players where it really hurts. Ban them from Wimbledon. Ban them from other tournaments. Daily Mail (I know, I know) also suggested a reason why Wimbledon made this move is because they didn't want the possibility of the Duchess of Cambridge to present a trophy to a Russian. Daniil Medvedeve - the number 2 seed and a favorite to win - could have been on Center Court with Kate. Victoria Azarenka also had a chance to win (maybe not as high but still). What are the options in "fighting" Russia? 1. Do nothing 2. Fight conventional warfare with bombing Russia 3. These extreme sanctions Can you really say options 1 and 2 are that much better? Should we/Britain/other European countries be pulled into a physical war, bombing Russia, possibly killing Russian civilians and our own soldiers instead? Also, what about Ukraine civilians? Don't you think, given the choice, they would rather not be bombed and have their innocent civilians killed rather than let their professional tennis players not play Wimbledon? That said, Elina Svitlona - a Ukrainian player - also seemed to be against hte measure...provided the Russian player spoke against Putin/the war. |
In 3 months? They not only have to change their citizenship, but then they have to apply for UK visas in that time as well. If you really think that someone can change citizenship and get foreign visas for the UK in three months, I'd love to know what international clout you have. There are people who wait for years for their citizenship application to be granted. There are people who wait 6 months for foreign visas to be approved. |
They’re out of luck then. But, hey, at least they’re not being besieged, raped nor watching their children murdered. And they’re still alive. But since they have means and social capital they will begin the process now if they are at all decent. |