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No Excuse For This Behaviour
ELITE sport is not about the simple joy of participation, nor is it even about the exhilaration of competition between finely tuned athletes.
It's about winning - and anyone who believes in those Elysian ideals in the context of sport at the top level is deluded. Watch any international competition and motivation is unmistakable - victory is all that matters.
We have decreed that it should be so. We hail winners as heroes - and treat those who come second, even though they have worked just as hard, as if they scarcely exist.
So it should not surprise us if sportsmen and women - and all too often their coaches - will resort to any tactic for a chance to collect the vast rewards we proffer to those who ascend the winner's podium.
But television footage of Ukranian swim coach Mihail Zubkov violently assaulting one of his team - his daughter, as it happens - was genuinely shocking.
And, who knows, it may have been that the ugly affray between father and daughter had nothing to do with swimming. It may have been a disagreement over an entirely different matter.
But irrespective of the cause of the conflict - even if the argument was over his daughter's pocket money - the video evidence is incontrovertible. On the basis of his appalling conduct Zubkov has no place on any international sports team, and the swimming governing body FINA's swift decision to strip him of his accreditation was the only possible course.
No doubt, a case will be made in Zubkov's defence - and perhaps it may even be supported by his daughter - that he was under a lot of pressure, that the brawl was a just small disagreement that got out of hand.
And it is most certainly to be hoped the scenes caught on film are not indicative of Zubkov's usual behaviour towards his daughter.
But no excuse is acceptable. While Zubkov may be reconciled with his daughter - and every compassionate person will hope that he is - he has no place as an international sports coach.
He should be sent home immediately.
The money and run
FOR the almost 8000 investors who entrusted their savings to Fincorp, the property group's collapse under a mountain of debt is much more than a matter of spectacular corporate failure - it's a disaster.
In total, those investors - the majority of them retirees - are owed about $200 million and for many of them the promised return could well have been the difference between a comfortable life and a struggle to make ends meet.
Yet while they contemplate the likely loss of that income, Fincorp executives, it seems, have rewarded themselves rather handsomely. Investigations by The Daily Telegraph reveal that in January, group chief executive Craig Stubbs had his salary package increased to in excess of $700,000 per annum. Nice work if you can get it.
At a time when it was - or at least should have been - apparent that Fincorp's financing was unravelling as inter-company debts mounted, some senior staff were lining up to line their pockets, with one "consultant'' requesting a $400,000 payout.
With administrators KordaMentha now picking through the wreckage of the group, investors may be in for a long wait to collect very little.
Let's hope if any criminality is uncovered, the culprits are caught and punished.
And another thing ...
ANOTHER long weekend is on the way and guess what - we're about to observe a time-honoured Easter tradition. It's a week away but the petrol companies are already gearing up to rachet the price just in time for your holiday "fill 'er up''. But it's not gouging, you understand: it's an unavoidable part of the "price cycle''. Just so you know.
Watch the movie over here :
It's about winning - and anyone who believes in those Elysian ideals in the context of sport at the top level is deluded. Watch any international competition and motivation is unmistakable - victory is all that matters.
We have decreed that it should be so. We hail winners as heroes - and treat those who come second, even though they have worked just as hard, as if they scarcely exist.
So it should not surprise us if sportsmen and women - and all too often their coaches - will resort to any tactic for a chance to collect the vast rewards we proffer to those who ascend the winner's podium.
But television footage of Ukranian swim coach Mihail Zubkov violently assaulting one of his team - his daughter, as it happens - was genuinely shocking.
And, who knows, it may have been that the ugly affray between father and daughter had nothing to do with swimming. It may have been a disagreement over an entirely different matter.
But irrespective of the cause of the conflict - even if the argument was over his daughter's pocket money - the video evidence is incontrovertible. On the basis of his appalling conduct Zubkov has no place on any international sports team, and the swimming governing body FINA's swift decision to strip him of his accreditation was the only possible course.
No doubt, a case will be made in Zubkov's defence - and perhaps it may even be supported by his daughter - that he was under a lot of pressure, that the brawl was a just small disagreement that got out of hand.
And it is most certainly to be hoped the scenes caught on film are not indicative of Zubkov's usual behaviour towards his daughter.
But no excuse is acceptable. While Zubkov may be reconciled with his daughter - and every compassionate person will hope that he is - he has no place as an international sports coach.
He should be sent home immediately.
The money and run
FOR the almost 8000 investors who entrusted their savings to Fincorp, the property group's collapse under a mountain of debt is much more than a matter of spectacular corporate failure - it's a disaster.
In total, those investors - the majority of them retirees - are owed about $200 million and for many of them the promised return could well have been the difference between a comfortable life and a struggle to make ends meet.
Yet while they contemplate the likely loss of that income, Fincorp executives, it seems, have rewarded themselves rather handsomely. Investigations by The Daily Telegraph reveal that in January, group chief executive Craig Stubbs had his salary package increased to in excess of $700,000 per annum. Nice work if you can get it.
At a time when it was - or at least should have been - apparent that Fincorp's financing was unravelling as inter-company debts mounted, some senior staff were lining up to line their pockets, with one "consultant'' requesting a $400,000 payout.
With administrators KordaMentha now picking through the wreckage of the group, investors may be in for a long wait to collect very little.
Let's hope if any criminality is uncovered, the culprits are caught and punished.
And another thing ...
ANOTHER long weekend is on the way and guess what - we're about to observe a time-honoured Easter tradition. It's a week away but the petrol companies are already gearing up to rachet the price just in time for your holiday "fill 'er up''. But it's not gouging, you understand: it's an unavoidable part of the "price cycle''. Just so you know.
Watch the movie over here :
it's a shame!!!
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