Racism in Sport

I'm giving the medal giver the benefit of the doubt, caught up in the moment and got flustered.
No one is that rotten that they'd purposefully blank a 12 year old in that manner.
 
Knuttell said:
I'm giving the medal giver the benefit of the doubt, caught up in the moment and got flustered.
No one is that rotten that they'd purposefully blank a 12 year old in that manner.
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I think you my be right, though it is difficult to understand.

The (in)actions of Gymnastics Ireland however are inexcusable.
 
cremeegg said:
The (in)actions of Gymnastics Ireland however are inexcusable.
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That seems to have been what’s really caused the problem. GI treated it as a failure of the individual rather than of the organisation.

It’s bizarre the way the child in question was overlooked but the official in question, when she realised what she had done, wrote a full apology to the family.

Had this been passed on at the time by GI, it may have been accepted in good faith but the apparent preference of GI to just ignore the matter and hope it went away has led to where we are today - accusations of institutional racism and and an official left isolated by her organisation.
 
Unfortunately social media rarely shows the full picture.

Yes, this girl was missed. But it was noticed and very quickly rectified - within about 15 minutes.

It happens regularly due to the excitement of the kids and they are all moving about and as in this case, almost always rectified within minutes. But most parents just see it for what it is - an error.

The only option is to have them all line up and step up to receive their medals, but when dealing with young excited kids, that simply is not feasible.

The worst part is one of the people in gymnastics Ireland who had nothing whatsoever to do with the event and who was not at the event, got named as the person giving out the medals.


I think this family made a big issue out of nothing and by passing the video onto a well known person, they knew it would be shared, but possibly did not realise it would go viral and it now seems they are getting targeted and some people will possibly target their kid.


Frankly, they should have accepted it was an error and accepted the genuine apology from the official especially after they saw it was rectified so quickly.
 
peemac said:
Unfortunately social media rarely shows the full picture.

Yes, this girl was missed. But it was noticed and very quickly rectified - within about 15 minutes.

It happens regularly due to the excitement of the kids and they are all moving about and as in this case, almost always rectified within minutes. But most parents just see it for what it is - an error.

The only option is to have them all line up and step up to receive their medals, but when dealing with young excited kids, that simply is not feasible.

The worst part is one of the people in gymnastics Ireland who had nothing whatsoever to do with the event and who was not at the event, got named as the person giving out the medals.


I think this family made a big issue out of nothing and by passing the video onto a well known person, they knew it would be shared, but possibly did not realise it would go viral and it now seems they are getting targeted and some people will possibly target their kid.


Frankly, they should have accepted it was an error and accepted the genuine apology from the official especially after they saw it was rectified so quickly.
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Did you see the video? Did you see the line of very calm kids waiting for a medal? Did you see every kid apart from the lone black kid who was standing in the middle of the row get a medal? Did you see the camera man asking the black girl where her medal was and the poor girl looking all confused but with a smile on her face?

We still haven't heard what happened. All we know is that the person giving the medals wrote an apology but Gymnastics Ireland did not pass it on for some unknown reason that they haven't explained. It also wasn't rectified by the official involved. We haven't heard why the girl was overlooked but it certainly wasn't because of chaotic scenes. We then had gymnastics Ireland set up mediation but didn't turn up themselves. As far as they were concerned, it had nothing to do with them despite it being their event.

This happened nearly 18 months ago. It was only in past couple of days when this story came out that they issued a proper apoology (and even that it was lacking). 18 months, the family spent trying to get answers and proper explanations to ensure it didn't happen to another child.

And you accuse the family of making a big deal of it????? 18 months they spent in the background trying to protect their child and every other child. I would have made a lot more noise if it was my child....

Its shocking that any sporting body in this day and age could handle such an issue in such an incompetent manner. Nearly as shocking as people saying it is the families fault for making a big deal about it....
 
Purple said:
Wow, I wasn't aware of that @Sunny
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I didn't believe it either until I saw the video. It's pretty damning. Maybe the person giving out the medals did offer an explanation but the bigger issue is Gymnastics handling of the situation. Even they say, it was unacceptable what happened. So given that, you think they would have been all over it 18 months ago and dealt with it. But no, usual story of pulling down the shutters until public reaction forces them to act.
 
Sunny said:
Did you see the video? Did you see the line of very calm kids waiting for a medal? Did you see every kid apart from the lone black kid who was standing in the middle of the row get a medal? Did you see the camera man asking the black girl where her medal was and the poor girl looking all confused but with a smile on her face?

We still haven't heard what happened. All we know is that the person giving the medals wrote an apology but Gymnastics Ireland did not pass it on for some unknown reason that they haven't explained. It also wasn't rectified by the official involved. We haven't heard why the girl was overlooked but it certainly wasn't because of chaotic scenes. We then had gymnastics Ireland set up mediation but didn't turn up themselves. As far as they were concerned, it had nothing to do with them despite it being their event.

This happened nearly 18 months ago. It was only in past couple of days when this story came out that they issued a proper apoology (and even that it was lacking). 18 months, the family spent trying to get answers and proper explanations to ensure it didn't happen to another child.

And you accuse the family of making a big deal of it????? 18 months they spent in the background trying to protect their child and every other child. I would have made a lot more noise if it was my child....

Its shocking that any sporting body in this day and age could handle such an issue in such an incompetent manner. Nearly as shocking as people saying it is the families fault for making a big deal about it....
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I know someone who was there and is heavily involved in gymnastics. It was rectified within minutes - BEFORE the kids left the field. The official apologised there and then. The family wanted the federation to take further action and that is where the issue lay as the federation was saying it was an error and rectified almost immediately and an apology given both verbally and then in writing by the official giving the medals out. Family were not happy and insisted on an official apology from the federation.

Now it is being used by the usual far right racist groups and the family and kid are getting targeted as well as an official that wasn't even there.

Frankly a storm in a teacup.
 
Sunny said:
We still haven't heard what happened.
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No. And perhaps we should wait until we have heard before we arrive at conclusions.

The kids might have been lined up patiently but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a busy event. Anyone with kids who’s ever attended these events knows how busy they are and are generally in awe of the volunteers who give their time generously and without reward.

You don’t know what was going on in the mind of the official concerned at that particular moment. She may have been distracted (she looks away at something between medals).

In the absence of full knowledge, we need to be at least open to the possibility that a genuine mistake was made - a mistake that was made worse by the actions of GI.

The alternative is that the official is a racist or that she was acting in accordance with what was GI’s racist policy.

Seriously???

People make mistakes. Organisations make mistakes. It’s how they front up subsequently that should matter.
 
peemac said:
I know someone who was there and is heavily involved in gymnastics. It was rectified within minutes - BEFORE the kids left the field. The official apologised there and then. The family wanted the federation to take further action and that is where the issue lay as the federation was saying it was an error and rectified almost immediately and an apology given both verbally and then in writing by the official giving the medals out. Family were not happy and insisted on an official apology from the federation.

Now it is being used by the usual far right racist groups and the family and kid are getting targeted as well as an official that wasn't even there.

Frankly a storm in a teacup.
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And since you know so much, what exactly did the official apologise for? You said above it was because of excited kids moving about. If you had seen the video, you would have seen that is clearly not the case.

If the official apologised there and then, why did Gymnastics Ireland not pass on her written apology and the family only found out about it months later during mediation where the official was able to show them her 'Sent' emails. Why did Gymnastics Ireland set up mediation but not take part in it themselves since they believed there was no issue. They left the official who you saying did nothing wrong to face accusations of racism by herself. Hardly acceptable for either side.

I don't believe that the official involved was racist. I think there is an explanation about what happened but we need to hear what it is. What is completely unacceptable is any sporting body to deal with any complaint about racism or any other child protection issue so incompetently. Their statements over the past few days have been completely inadequate.

I have no idea what you mean about Far Right Racist groups using the video? Have heard more about far right and far left in the past couple of days. Racist people are just racist. Plenty of racist Sinn Fein/FG/FF voters......
 
Salvadore said:
No. And perhaps we should wait until we have heard before we arrive at conclusions.

The kids might have been lined up patiently but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a busy event. Anyone with kids who’s ever attended these events knows how busy they are and are generally in awe of the volunteers who give their time generously and without reward.

You don’t know what was going on in the mind of the official concerned at that particular moment. She may have been distracted (she looks away at something between medals).

In the absence of full knowledge, we need to be at least open to the possibility that a genuine mistake was made - a mistake that was made worse by the actions of GI.

The alternative is that the official is a racist or that she was acting in accordance with what was GI’s racist policy.

Seriously???

People make mistakes. Organisations make mistakes. It’s how they front up subsequently that should matter.
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Nowhere I have read suggests the family accused the official involved of racism. They raised concerns and were met by what appears to be complete ineptitude or something more sinister by the Governing body. Whatever happened happened. It's the response that is the bigger story. 18 months spent trying to reach a satisfactory conclusion.... It sounds like they accepted the officials explanation especially with regard to the 'missing apology' but they were right not to let Gymnastics Ireland off the hook.
 
From the guardian:

Una May, the CEO of Sports Ireland, said the judge who ignored the only black gymnast in the competition lineup had got the medals “tangled up”, in comments witnessed by at least two people outside the family.

“[May] said it wasn’t a racist incident at all, the medals just got tangled,” said Ken McCue, who was co-founder of Sari and has been helping the family.

“I said to her: ‘That’s disgraceful, you want to change your mind on that one,’ and she just walked away.”


And yet the child beside the black girl and every other child before and after her got a medal.

With answers and explanations like that, are people really surprised that the family didn't let it go???



www.theguardian.com

Black girl at centre of Irish gymnastics race row ‘badly let down’, says ministry

Statement comes as it emerges that head of Ireland’s sporting authority told family girl’s treatment was not racist
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Sunny said:
From the guardian:

Una May, the CEO of Sports Ireland, said the judge who ignored the only black gymnast in the competition lineup had got the medals “tangled up”, in comments witnessed by at least two people outside the family.

“[May] said it wasn’t a racist incident at all, the medals just got tangled,” said Ken McCue, who was co-founder of Sari and has been helping the family.

“I said to her: ‘That’s disgraceful, you want to change your mind on that one,’ and she just walked away.”


And yet the child beside the black girl and every other child before and after her got a medal.

With answers and explanations like that, are people really surprised that the family didn't let it go???



www.theguardian.com

Black girl at centre of Irish gymnastics race row ‘badly let down’, says ministry

Statement comes as it emerges that head of Ireland’s sporting authority told family girl’s treatment was not racist
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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and they fail to mention that the child in question got her medal minutes later when it was realised she had not been given one. It was an error. That's all.
 
Sunny said:
Nowhere I have read suggests the family accused the official involved of racism.
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Lots of others have. Whether it’s the family or not, it’s GI that’s had to defend the accusation.
Sunny said:
They raised concerns and were met by what appears to be complete ineptitude or something more sinister by the Governing body.
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something sinister. Now you’re jumping on the bandwagon.
Sunny said:
Whatever happened happened. It's the response that is the bigger story.
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Only to the extent that there’s a sniff of racism. Nobody really cares about GI’s administrative shortcomings.
Sunny said:
18 months spent trying to reach a satisfactory conclusion.
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That doesn’t necessarily make them racist- inefficient, yes - incompetent, perhaps. But you should be better armed with the facts before you suggest “something more sinister”.
 
I don't know if it was deliberate or not, I hope it was a genuine oversight but we can't be naive and think racism doesn't exist in Irish sport. I've been to Nowlan Park and heard the abuse the O'Ailpin's (and Donal Og) got from the terraces from Kilkenny fans (a minority in fairness), it was horrible. There was the Lee Chin issue last year, I've heard it at a League of Ireland match in Cork and there are other examples in GAA and football.

Look at the morons outside the Dail last week and all the social media posts about "unvetted" migrants. Sport is part of society so it is going to reflect all of society, for better and for worse.
 
thedaddyman said:
I've been to Nowlan Park and heard the abuse the O'Ailpin's (and Donal Og) got from the terraces from Kilkenny fans (a minority in fairness), it was horrible. There was the Lee Chin issue last year, I've heard it at a League of Ireland match in Cork and there are other examples in GAA and football.

Look at the morons outside the Dail last week and all the social media posts about "unvetted" migrants. Sport is part of society so it is going to reflect all of society, for better and for worse.
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Racism is a societal problem, not a sports problem. Sport just provides convenient outlets for morons and others to unleash their bile.

It’s another thing altogether to suggest that sporting organisations are themselves racist. I don’t know much about GI but I wouldn’t have thought that the gymnastics world was a hotbed of racist behaviour.
 
Salvadore said:
Racism is a societal problem, not a sports problem. Sport just provides convenient outlets for morons and others to unleash their bile.

It’s another thing altogether to suggest that sporting organisations are themselves racist. I don’t know much about GI but I wouldn’t have thought that the gymnastics world was a hotbed of racist behaviour.
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I completely agree, sport reflects society and vice versa.
 
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