MALACHI DAVIES - should he represent Britain ?

[Easy 10]

Should the American Malachi Davies be allowed to compete in the Olympics for Britain ?

He failed in the US Olympic trials, and so as far as I'm concerned, he's just worked the system to go to the Olympics through the back door. I gather his mother was from London, so off the back of that he's got his British passport two weeks ago and now he's on the plane to Athens "representing Britain" (or "England" as he said yesterday) in the 4x4 100 metres. Rubbish innit ?

He's never even been to this country, never trained here, probably never had any intention of having anything to do with Britain in his entire life...until he saw it as a flag of convenience with which he could fulfil his own personal ambitions of competing in the Olympics, after he was proved not good enough to represent his own country. He's not representing us - he's representing himself.

And before people start banging on about the likes of John Barnes or Nasser Hussain - they made their choice to become British nationals many many years ago, and not as part of a spur-of-the-moment piece of opportunism to jump on board in the last minute, just in time for a major competition. They have spent most of their lives and their professional careers in this country, and so have every right to represent England on an International stage. Davies has not.

Any achievements that relay team accomplish in Athens will be heavily diluted by the presence of Davies IMHO.

 

[Trigger]

We've got the same problem in cricket... Craig Spearman (NZ) & Stuart Law (Aus) have both recently stated they want to play for England next year...

 

[CHAPPERS]

Why not? Everyone else does it.







Not that I give a f*** about Athletics of course, it's all about who's got the best drugs nowadays.

 

[Reading Posh]

Why not? Everyone else does it.

Quite right, Zola Budd anyone?

 

[Easy 10]

Isn't it time they tightened the regulations then ? I mean, the likes of Cudicini and DiCanio have to at least have lived in this country for 5 years before they can become foreign nationals and represent this country in sporting competition. Just cos Davies's mum is a Londoner, almost overnight he has gained British citizenship purely for the Olympics.

Regardless of parents / grandparents or whatever, at the very least I think you should have had a British passport for the last 5 years, to stop this kind of overnight opportunism which has been exploited by Davies.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

Quite right, Zola Budd anyone?

no thanks. to early for me to drink

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

No. Zola Budd was another mistake. Our own atheletes should be getting the places. It is what they train for.







Unless he gets a Gold - and then it's "Come On Malachi"

 

[JJ McClure]

Isn't it time they tightened the regulations then ? I mean, the likes of Cudicini and DiCanio have to at least have lived in this country for 5 years before they can become foreign nationals and represent this country in sporting competition. Just cos Davies's mum is a Londoner, almost overnight he has gained British citizenship purely for the Olympics.

Regardless of parents / grandparents or whatever, at the very least I think you should have had a British passport for the last 5 years, to stop this kind of overnight opportunism which has been exploited by Davies.

Rubbish, if Davis has British parentage why should he have to wait 5 years. Cudicini and Di Canio are totally different cases as are 100% Italian but have simply lived here for long enough.
Davis can run for GB and that's fine by me. With the crap Olympic squad we've got we need all the help we can get.

 

[Marshy]

I agree Easy this is Total Bollox.

Just think if you were the guy that was born and raised in Britain, ie Iwan Thomas, has trained his whole life to get that spot in the relay side and go to the Olympics, only for a yank with a British mother to fly over at the the last second to take his place on some loophole in the rules...

Id be Fuckin gutted.

I bet the guy dosent even know the words to the National Anthem.....not that hes going to win f*** all, which makes it even more annoying.

 

[Set of Tracksuits]

No he shouldn't. It's an absolute disgrace that he was selected above Iwan Thomas who had struggled for the last three years against injury to get himself fit for these Games and won't now compete at the Olympics again.

OK, he ran a faster time than him in the trials, but he shouldn't have even had the opportunity to run in trials for GB. It's like Greg Rusedski representing GB in the Davis Cup etc. I've always thought that was bollocks.

 

[Easy 10]

Rubbish, if Davis has British parentage why should he have to wait 5 years. Cudicini and Di Canio are totally different cases as are 100% Italian but have simply lived here for long enough.
Davis can run for GB and that's fine by me. With the crap Olympic squad we've got we need all the help we can get.

So you are quite happy for a guy with absolutely no affiliation with Britain, who at the beginning of the month probably couldn't even point to us on a map, to represent us as a Briton in the Olympics ?

Here's an idea. How about, instead of drafting in athletes from other countries at the drop of a hat, UK Athletics instead takes a long, serious look at why, despite a decade of lottery funding, Britain seems to be incapable of consistantly producing athletes who can compete on a world stage (the notable exception being the wondrous Paula Radcliffe).

Sport in this country will not improve by shuffling passport papers to wave through athletes who have not spent as much as a minute living or training in the UK. It is a sad, disgusting indictment of UK Athletics that we have had to resort to drafting in an American to represent us bcause we can't even come up with four competative sprinters.

 

[Albion Rob]

I do think it's kind of funny that the Americans put all the money into training him and then he coms to us but he looks pretty hopeless anyway so what's the point?

Easy is bang on about lottery money though. What a bloody waste. I see today that Sean Baldock has ha a pop at Darren Campbell for saying British athletes are in a comfort zone but there must be a reason why we weere winning plenty of golds up until about eight years ago and the lottery funding seems to be the biggest thing that has happened.

Mind you, wee ought to raid the prison system for a few contenders because some of those fellas can run like buggery with a telly in thier hands so imagine what they could do without one!

 

[Brovion]

Easy, we've had a similar argument before about foreign-born people playing football for England. If you recall I was in favor but you were against.

However this time I have to concede you've got a point. If it had been his burning ambition to represent the land of his mother and he'd just been using the US athletics system to train then I'd welcome him with open arms. However I get the feeling that he'd be just as happy representing Botswana or Iceland, in fact I feel the only 'thing' he's representing is himself.

It's Zola Budd all over again and I was opposed to her, so I'll reluctantly agree with you, we're just a flag of convience for him. Mind you as DKM says if we wins we get a medal! Hooray for Britain!

 

[Easy 10]

Yes, I do recall Brovian. After a prolongued and bloody battle, in the end we had to "agree to disagree" I think.
I just don't like the way this all seems to be going - this muddying of the waters is very unsatisfactory. If we're not good enough, then accept it and DO something about it, instead of bending rules to allow others to come in and paper over the cracks.

 

[CHAPPERS]

Yes, I do recall Brovian. After a prolongued and bloody battle, in the end we had to "agree to disagree" I think.
I just don't like the way this all seems to be going - this muddying of the waters is very unsatisfactory. If we're not good enough, then accept it and DO something about it, instead of bending rules to allow others to come in and paper over the cracks.

Hmmmm, all this 'breaking down of borders' is most confusing innit.

 

[m20gull]

No problem - he has a British passport, he has reached the qualifying standard, Iwan Thomas hasn't.

 

[Gritt23]

British mother, therefore it's fine by me. I agree that there is something distatseful about it, would he for instance be entitled to Lottery Funding that would otherwise go to other British-based athletes?

However, wherever the line is currently drawn, it is way beyond someone with British parentage. As 80's Seagull mentions, the likes of Cudicini are far more contentious for me.

As for it tainting any success in relay, I don't think that'll be an issue.

As for Iwan Roberts .... he ain't there because he didn't achieve the "A" qualifying standard. He has no-one to blame for that but himself.

 

[Albion Rob]

The way I'm going to view it is - If he wins then he's British but if he doesn't he's an American mercenary.

That should do fine.

 

[Easy 10]

British mother, therefore it's fine by me. I agree that there is something distatseful about it, would he for instance be entitled to Lottery Funding that would otherwise go to other British-based athletes?

Distasteful ? Disgraceful more like. And the lottery cash seems to have done naff-all anyway, so it would hardly matter if Davies ended up "taking advantage" of the benefits of it, whatever they are. I doubt he'll even bother "representing" Britain again after Athens - can you see him catching a flight from California to turn up at Crystal Palace or Gateshead in November to train with his new team mates ? Think he'll be buying a flat in Wandsworth to stay in his new adopted country ? Naah, me neither.

We should train as a British team, qualify as a British team, and if we're not good enough, we should fail as a British team. Then we should focus on that failure and try to improve as a British team, NOT start taking short cuts and drafting in any bugger who fancies sending his mum down the post office and getting a passport.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

If he wins then good luck to him and one more medal to the tally ( probably ending up at 2 gold, three silver and 15 bronze)

if he loses, then he's just a useless yank.

simple really