Player Safety vs. Money [Online Poll]
In a society where safety and security is of the utmost importance, the bombings in Bangalore before an Indian Premier League match between Bangalore and Mumbai last Saturday have sparked fears over player safety in sport.
Loading ...Sources suggest that such players like Jacques Kallis and Kevin Pietersen were not happy about playing the match after such an event. But considering they have signed contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, were they ever really in a position to refuse?
Has money become more of an importance in sport than safety of its players?
Scared... Pietersen was 'rattled' after the bombings.
With major events like the Commonwealth Games and the ICC Cricket World Cup to be held in the sub-continent in the future, questions are being asked about the ability of security forces being able to ensure safety of athletes.
However, is it only sub-continent countries like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka that are under a safety cloud?
With the constant activity of Volcano Eyjafjallajokul (yes that’s what it’s called) in Iceland, sport in general has been disrupted.
Last night we saw Inter Milan take on Barcelona in the Champions League, the latter having to take a 700-odd kilometre journey to get to San Siro. All of a sudden the European Champions, who beat Arsenal 6-3 on aggregate in the previous leg, get off the bus and have to play a sapping semi-final against one of the best teams in Europe. They lost 3-1 to Inter, but should the Milan club now be forced to drive down to Spain for the return leg? Yes or no, true or false, the fact is that as long as the game goes ahead, how much does Inter really care? They’ve got the money in the pocket.
Lyon verse Bayern Munich in the coming hours and they also face a mammoth journey of about 800-odd kilometres. That’s about 10-hours of travel split by staying a night in Stuttgart.
To take the bombings in the IPL into perspective, imagine if a similar act happened during the FIFA World Cup in South Africa in July. How keen would teams be to stay? How much would it cost FIFA and South Africa? What is the moral and right thing to do in such a situation? After all, it is the biggest sporting event in the world.
On the contrary to the fact that athletes such as Kallis, Pietersen and many others in sport have emphasized their unhappiness about safety issues such as this, it’s primarily because they’re well off enough to not have to worry.
Seriously, how much money are such top-class athletes really going to lose by not playing or boycotting events due to lack of security?
Australian swimmer Nick D’Arcy was quoted as saying earlier in the year, amiss security fears for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi , that “as long as it’s (the Games) were still on” his hand would be up for selection. Why’s he so keen? This young swimmer has a tarnished image over an assault row, so is money or safety really an issue to him? It’s obvious the most important thing to him is to repair his fragile reputation, after all, who likes being held at the bottom of public regard?
The obvious point here is that at the end of the day, athletes are getting paid to participate in sport; however safety is where the line seemingly becomes unclear. So, we here at Injury Time don’t want to merely tell you what we think, but rather you tell us what you think. At the top of this article and on the side of the page is a poll and we simply want to know: Has athlete safety or money become a more important issue in sport? Simply choose one of the answers and over the next month or so, we’ll find out what you guys think!
