British WAG (and MAG!) talk

[ArnoldRimmer]

It’s particularly pissing me off that they think they’re entitled to behave this way when they receive public money. It should be a condition for BG, and any other such organisation getting any portion of my taxes, to provide transparency.

 

[Gymfan93]

This is exactly what I have seen- nobody that I have seen has directly said anything about Alice (or any other gymnast) although no doubt probably somebody has. What I have seen is people pointing out the obvious lack of transparency and the potential for accusations of favouritism. That’s all on BG, but I do feel bad if individual people are feeling upset over the whole mess.

 

[Doug1233]

Yes I haven’t seen any outright hate towards Alice but there’s definitely been some nudge nudge wink wink going on - from myself included!

 

[Doug1233]

But you can only imagine what her DMs might be saying…

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

As do I, but the solution to this is transparency, not trying to blur the line between people being arseholes and people making legitimate criticisms. Which is what PW are doing here. And these things are all still going to be issues even if both Downies get injured out tomorrow.

 

[Doug1233]

Why AREN’T the Trials scores released?

Like, what is the rationale?

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Nudge nudge wink wink is completely fine, though. It doesn’t belong in the same sentence as hate, online bullying etc, unless accompanied by the words ‘these things are completely different to each other’. And this doesn’t pass the sniff test, especially in the context of an organisation who don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt. I think the better point is we’ve no idea what people have been DMing to her. She is, after all, a woman with a public profile so I don’t find it hard to believe someone’s threatened to eat her pet dog or similar.

 

[Doug1233]

If I was Christine I’d have probably done the same. If my gymnast was regularly scoring 54-55 in the AA and there was hardcore innuendo about whether she was benefitting from favouritism over two athletes getting 12s, then sure I’d release the scores.

What’s BG gonna do?

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Probably not a lot when you’re married to the head coach.

 

[Doug1233]

Ha of course. But even if you weren’t.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

What, you reckon there wouldn’t be any risk of comeback if eg a Notts coach did this?

 

[Doug1233]

If your gymnast is on the bubble I guess ur right.

But it shouldn’t be. It’s crazy that BG isn’t releasing the scores.

I wonder how Becky and, even moreso, Ellie, feel about these scores now out there. If I was Ellie’s coach I’d be mad asf

 

[Gymfan93]

I mean what can they do, though?
Even if they make them delete it, you can bet it’s been screenshot all over the place.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

The issue isn’t so much PW publicising these as BG not. It’s also a bit counterproductive for PW too, because they’re trying to rebut accusations of nepotism by doing something that there’s a realistic possibility another club would face some kind of sanction for.

It’s ridiculous to imagine these things are going to stay secret in this day and age though. Inevitably someone is going to leak it at some point in proceedings, whether anonymously or otherwise.

 

[Doug1233]

Maybe PW have overplayed the “bullying” card to give them cover for releasing the scores that clearly show their gymnast in a favourable light?

 

[RAFIKI]

I work in science research in the UK and if (PLEASE fund my latest application!) we get research council funding from the tax payer then we have to report our outcomes every year and can’t publish behind paywalls. Rightly so IMHO.

I hope the Downies have a fantastic last two days. Their world medals and D values give them the leeway to not be at their best for every trial, but they are leaving it to the very last moment to make their case. It makes me nervous, especially for Becky.

 

[Doug1233]

Oh if only Jess hadn’t Gogean’d in prelims… (and Larissa also hadn’t fell and it was ROM and GBR…!)

 

[Jack]

I don’t understand why they are prioritizing 6th place in a TF over possible actual medals. But then again, this was the federation that deemed Pinches and Cairns worthy of olympic spots. They do seem to enjoy screwing over their gymnasts of color when it comes to selecting Olympic teams, don’t they?

 

[MaryClare]

What has colour got to do with it?

There are and have been many forces at play in British Gymnastics, but race/ethnicity isn’t one of them.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Hmm, I will hear many things against BG but I don’t know that this is related to ethnicity. They’ve sent majority non white teams to major competitions before, and shat on white gymnasts as well as black.