Russian chief banned for Williams jibe

[Locutus]

(Reuters) - The president of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpischev has been fined $25,000 (15,540 pounds) and banned from the women's tour for a year after referring to Serena and Venus Williams as "the Williams brothers" on a television chat show last week.

Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) chief executive Stacy Allaster said the comments were "insulting, demeaning and have absolutely no place on our sport".

Allaster added: "Mr. Tarpischev’s statements questioning their genders tarnish our great game and two of our champions. His derogatory remarks deserve to be condemned and he will be sanctioned.

"As a result of his comments I have ordered Mr. Tarpischev to be fined $25,000, the maximum allowed under WTA rules."

She added that he would be suspended from any involvement with the WTA for a year.

World number one Serena Williams has won 18 grand slam singles titles while her sister Venus has won seven majors.

Dave Haggerty, president of the United States Tennis Association, called on Tarpischev to issue an apology.

"As the president of the Russian Tennis Federation and a member of the International Olympic Committee, Mr. Tarpischev is expected to conduct himself with the highest degree of integrity and sportsmanship," Haggerty said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, his comments do not embody either of these traits and in fact were reprehensible."

https://au.sports.yahoo.com/tennis/n...williams-jibe/

Russian tennis president banned and fined for calling Serena and Venus Williams 'the Williams brothers' - Telegraph

:lol:

 

[Blackleaf]

You can get banned over the slightest little things nowadays. In the old days, when we were all made of sterner stuff, this would have been laughed off and forgotten about within days.

 

[gopher]

God punishes.

Hopefully he won't be allowed back in the RTF.

 

[Blackleaf]

Much ado about nothing. Twenty years ago we were capable of just laughing such comments off and seeing it as not much of a big deal which, of course, it still isn't.

Nowadays, though, we've become too soft (in the West, anyway), and we've almost got to the stage where every person alive has to be really careful what they say so as not to cause "offence" to some poor, put upon, underprevileged and disadvantaged members of society (like the Williams sisters).

Fining somebody $25,000 just because he said "William brothers" rather than "Williams sisters" shows just how soft and thin-skinned Western society has become and is another symptom of the way we make a great palaver of trivial things nowadays.

I also wonder if it would have been considered "insulting" and "demeaning", and if he would have been fined at all, had Mr Tarpischev called the Murray brothers "the Murray sisters".

 

[gopher]

NFL players routinely get fined $50,000 for making even the slightest criticism of their league. The NCAA does not allow coaches to make any criticism at all. It's just the way things are today.

 

[Locutus]

NFL players routinely get fined $50,000 for making even the slightest criticism of their league. The NCAA does not allow coaches to make any criticism at all. It's just the way things are today.

the same nfl that gives players grief for 'kneeling', teabowing, dancing in the end zone...yeah, I don't put a lot of stock in your football league dude.

 

[#juan]

The guy made a comment that was on everyone's mind. The Williams "sisters" look to be carrying more than their share of testosterone.

These women have dominated women's tennis for a decade or so. The photo doesn't immediately
suggest a gentle lady.

 

[Locutus]

come at her bro.

 

[Blackleaf]

NFL players routinely get fined $50,000 for making even the slightest criticism of their league. The NCAA does not allow coaches to make any criticism at all. It's just the way things are today.

It's another area in which free speech is being eroded.

The BBC now forces its presenters to apologise for "any offence caused" even if just one person out of the millions of people who watch it or listen to it makes a complaint.

And certain people exaggerate nowadays. They come out and say "That comment was demeaning and insulting. I was absolutely shocked and horrified and I even had to book an appointment with my shrink to get the psychiatric treatment I needed. The person who made the comments needs to be sent on a two-week public behaviour course" And the comment could have just been something trivial, like Clarkson saying women are bad drivers.

 

[damngrumpy]

Two things here when has bad manners and someone being called on it been
a free speech issue? Secondly when it comes to the Vancouver Canucks I
hear the reference tot he Sedin's as the Sedin sisters a derogatory comment
about their playing ability and its connotations.
At what point do we need to toughen up just a little?
Remember in an open democracy we also have the right to be offended in some
cases. I think it was ill mannered and rude. If it were made by a commentator it
would be the same or an ordinary citizen the same. This however was made by
someone who is being seen as representing the sport and in a position of trust
therefore is was an appropriate action to take in my opinion

 

[Blackleaf]

Two things here when has bad manners and someone being called on it been
a free speech issue?

Fining somebody $25,000 for calling the Williams sisters "the Williams brothers" is disgraceful, in my opinion.

And all this modern, newfangled, faux outrage that is shown over things nobody would have batted an eyelid about twenty or thirty years ago is very selective.

Had this guy called Andy Murray and Jamie Murray "the Murray sisters" I bet he'd still be in his job and there would be nothing like the unnecessary and over-the-top "outrage" that is being shown now.

The fact is that such faux outrage is only practised by our modern PC rulers and "betters" and others in authority. For example, the vast majority of people don't care one iota that this man called the Williams sisters "the Williams brothers". Nobody gives a damn. There are many other things that people are genuinely concerned about right now than some silly and petty remark like those that kids say every week on the school playground.

I honestly wonder how the Western world would have got through WWII if we were as thin-skinned and PC back then as we are now. We would have stood no chance.

 

[Twila]

I don't think the Williams sisters would care what some russian coach has to say about them. They're fit. They work out. If they were on a growth hormone, with the fitness regime their on they'd be massive. tennis requires great upper body strength to play a full game.

 

[Nuggler]

8OEver see some of the Ruskie female athletes , sheesh.

Glass houses, stones, and such.

 

[shadowshiv]

I don't think the Williams sisters would care what some russian coach has to say about them. They're fit. They work out. If they were on a growth hormone, with the fitness regime their on they'd be massive. tennis requires great upper body strength to play a full game.

That's the thing...they did care. Serena Williams cared so much in fact, that she thought that him calling them the William "brothers" constituted racism. Wait, what? Racism? Serena Williams seems to think that everything negative is racist. The comments he made weren't racist, stop trying to make them into something they weren't!


For the record, Serena Williams annoys me. She is such a poor sport, and whenever she loses it's because of something she didn't do rather than the fact that her opponent was just better than her that day. I remember when she threatened the line judge (or was it the referee?) at the US Open. Stay classy, Serena!