Aljaz Bedene to switch his allegiance to Great Britain

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/27333443

Decent player but i don't want him in davis cup tennis

T of t C. Agree this allegiance-switch thing is controversial. But Bedene seems more British than Rusedski was when he jumped ship from Canada in the 1990s

No doubt he will make more endorsement money by being "British" and will be get on the show courts at Wimbledon.

He's not British.

Duty 281 - Half the England cricket team - bit less now - is not English. One of the reasons England aint much cop at international football is that they have to rely on, er...English players.

Dare I mention Laura Robson?

SirFred - May I ask who those non-English people are?

laverfan wrote:Dare I mention Laura Robson?

I feel differently about Robson. I think her parents are British and she was purely born in Australia.

And she's resided here since the age of eight, I think.

Not like Bedene, who, according to the BBC, has only lived in this country since 2011.

Absurd.

Why don't we just make an offer to the Serbian & Spanish federations to transfer Djokovic & Nadal and we should be fine?

This is exactly the kind of stupidity that the idiocy of patriotism leads to. Totally missing the point of a 'national' team.

He wants to become British though doesn't he, it's not like the LTA have actively tried to recruit him.

TSJ and Duty281... I was kidding. I have always wondered about allegiances and arbitrary lines on a map.

@BB.. Patriotism is very much an identity and identification thing. Lendl, Navaratilova come immediately to mind. Bogomolov Jr., a bit later. Sharapova...

Did Nadal not have an issue with British Taxes a while back, and Djokovic chose the Principality of Monaco as a residence, right above the Monte Carlo Country Club?

Look at the Ukraine crisis and some lines on a map that have created it. Donetsk may become a new nation, like Montenegro.

Texas and California should rightfully belong to Mexico, I think, in some alternative universe.  

Bedne's desire is also tied to available resources in UK rather than elsewhere. If he gets approval, he would only help the British Tennis, will he not?

laverfan wrote:
Look at the Ukraine crisis and some lines on a map that have created it. Donetsk may become a new nation, like Montenegro.

A little wrong there. Montenegro was a Republic/Nation already, just forcibly within a Union with Serbia during wars of 1990's, then they split in 2006 from the union.

Donetsk is a city, and its independence is a joke, same as Abkhazia and South Ossetia that Russia annexed them from Georgia.

As for Monaco, its mostly for players from countries that Tax foreign income on its citizens, same as USA. Djoko gets regularly lambasted from serbian fans for not paying a cent to its country, on patriotic grounds.

Anyway, I don't understand this Bedene guy, thought Rusedski was an oddball playing for UK too.

bogbrush wrote:Absurd.

Why don't we just make an offer to the Serbian & Spanish federations to transfer Djokovic & Nadal and we should be fine?

This is exactly the kind of stupidity that the idiocy of patriotism leads to. Totally missing the point of a 'national' team.

You may well laugh but we did try to get Djokovic a while back:-

"Serbia's Novak Djokovic, the youngest player in the world's top 40 and a close friend of Andy Murray, remains a target for the Lawn Tennis Association despite muted statements to the contrary by the 19-year-old Belgrade-born player during the French Open. His mother, Dijana, spoke to the LTA in April during the Davis Cup tie between Serbia & Montenegro and Britain and the talks have continued ever since.

"The ball is in their court, that's the bottom line," said Roger Draper, the LTA's new chief executive, yesterday. "We cannot do anything until they make the decision." However, it is understood that the LTA has been actively pursuing the Djokovic family and trying to smooth the way for a move to Britain." - Steve Bierley (The Guardian, Wednesday 21 June 2006)

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2006/jun/21/tennis.gdnsport3

So since growing them has failed, UK trying to import? The inventors of tennis are in a sad state of affairs.

Jahu wrote:So since growing them has failed, UK trying to import? The inventors of tennis are in a sad state of affairs.

Dude, you're just stating the obvious, even in our major sport football, we tried to get that Man Utd Januzaj kid but he chose Belgium instead of England:-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/england/10783945/Manchester-Uniteds-Adnan-Januzaj-to-play-for-Belgium-instead-of-England.html

Sure sure, it seems the sport has been overrun by money and allegiances are bought quickly.

Investing in local talents, is time consuming and not worthwhile it seems.

Jahu wrote:

laverfan wrote:Look at the Ukraine crisis and some lines on a map that have created it. Donetsk may become a new nation, like Montenegro.

A little wrong there. Montenegro was a Republic/Nation already, just forcibly within a Union with Serbia during wars of 1990's, then they split in 2006 from the union.

My point was the daily movement of lines on a map is not a good measure of patriotic allegiances. Balkans are prime example of ethnic diversity, which is also a significant factor in daily dose of divisions.

BTW, thanks for the history. Fascinating reading on WiKipedia.

So when I said long ago here, politics, nationalism and government sponsored sport is REAL, I was slammed for being old fashioned  

LF, you never cease to amaze us with your global insight   

Jahu wrote:So when I said long ago here, politics, nationalism and government sponsored sport is REAL, I was slammed for being old fashioned  

These tend to interfere with sport, more than they assist it. I have seen boycotts of sports due to political overtones. South Africa was a pariah in the Cricket and Tennis world due to its political policies (KingRaf can educate me better on this).

Jahu wrote:LF, you never cease to amaze us with your global insight   

laverfan wrote:

Jahu wrote:So when I said long ago here, politics, nationalism and government sponsored sport is REAL, I was slammed for being old fashioned  

These tend to interfere with sport, more than they assist it. I have seen boycotts of sports due to political overtones. South Africa was a pariah in the Cricket and Tennis world due to its political policies (KingRaf can educate me better on this).

Jahu wrote:LF, you never cease to amaze us with your global insight   

Thank you for the opening LF - indeed there is a joke in South Africa that the apartheid government only ended apartheid because they wanted to see how the Bok front row matched up against the mighty All Blacks, it's a joke, but in truth, earnest negotiations did start pretty soon after the rugger tours were canned.

Personally, I do feel a sense of nationalist pride - Something happens inside when I go to cricket match and sing the national anthem, consisting of four languages, with 30, 000 other people. For whatever reason, South Africans do seem to identify themselves with their nationality more.

Anyway, such alliances of convenience don't sit well with me, but hey ho, I can see why this kid wants it.

laverfan wrote:

Jahu wrote:

laverfan wrote:Look at the Ukraine crisis and some lines on a map that have created it. Donetsk may become a new nation, like Montenegro.

A little wrong there. Montenegro was a Republic/Nation already, just forcibly within a Union with Serbia during wars of 1990's, then they split in 2006 from the union.

My point was the daily movement of lines on a map is not a good measure of patriotic allegiances. Balkans are prime example of ethnic diversity, which is also a significant factor in daily dose of divisions.

BTW, thanks for the history. Fascinating reading on WiKipedia.

Lines on a map is all they are. The only reason I give nationhood any time is because in some parts of the World people are brought up with very bad values.