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| Unfair | 36% | 12 votes | Total: 33 votes | |
| Fair | 64% | 21 votes |
Unfair
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Add to FavoritesIs Nick D'Arcy's ban fair or is it a life sentence?
What happened to the days when people were served with warnings before they were punished?
Well to be completely honest, those days are definitely long gone.
Is it fair to serve such a dramatic life sentence on Australian swimmer, Nick D'Arcy? Well, in my opinion, no. Nick D'Arcy was removed from Australia's olympic swim team. The one set to compete in the upcoming Beijing olympics to be held in the upcoming months. The reason for this, it had been alleged that D'Arcy had assaulted a former swimmer [let me emphasise the word, alleged]. Nick D'Arcy appealed the AOC's [Australian Olympic Committee]decision and in return his plea was rejected, not once but twice. To me, the decision to ban D'Arcy from competing in this years olympics, was not fair.
Don't Australian's wish to have the best swim team when it comes to competing in the olympics? D'Arcy is what i consider to be among the best. If not one of the best swimmers in the world. The decision to ban D'Arcy has completely and utterly outraged my family, including myself. Each of us wish to boycott watching the Australian olympic swim team compete in Beijing later this year. Never before would I have refused to watch swimming, especially being a big fan, but when the AOC took this case too far I believe I have no other choice.
A life sentence is exactly what this ban is. I mean not even some murderers are sentenced to life, murderers that kill innocent victims. Footballers [from the NRL] on the other hand are handed suspensions [maybe 1,2 or 4 week suspensions], not banned for life. The suspension acts as a warning. It's just not fair.
I don't agree with what he did, I personally don't condon it. His behaviour at that time was not acceptable. He did hurt another human being however, as I stated before, whatever happened to warnings? I am sure if he was warned strongly this incident would totally destroy his career, he would NEVER do this again. Nick D'Arcy has not only been banned but his family, his supporters and followers. This poor man has suffered enough. He has lost fans over the continuous controversy and he has lost his career. He does not deserve the punishment being dished and I, myself, formally refuse to watch Australia compete in swimming whilst in Beijing. Put yourself in his position. Would you personally wish to be reinstated into the swim team or have your dream crushed?!
I am eager to see what other people belive and how they feel about this topic.
Learn more about this author, Ashlee K.
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Fair
In this day and age where sports stars are treated as celebrities and every misstep put under the microscope, Australian swimmer Nick D'Arcy can have no complaint about being dumped from the Olympic swimming team.
While D'Arcy's alleged assault of team mate Simon Cowley is still before the courts, it is not this which got him sacked from the Australian swimming team. D'Arcy signed a Team Membership Agreement, which included a clause about bringing "the person, the person's sport or the AOC into disrepute or censure", and it is this agreement which sealed his fate.
The lack of a criminal conviction is not the core of the issue here, the negative press about D'Arcy and the team is what got him sacked. Earlier this year Western Force rugby player Matt Henjak was sacked by the Australian rugby union for an incident which left team mate Haig Sare with a broken jaw, and no charges were ever filed, although Henjak's career is now in ruins.
This is also not the first time that D'Arcy is alleged to have been involved in a late night incident, with ironman Tim Peach also claiming to have been struck by D'Arcy in the past.
His swimming talents are unquestioned, and his exclusion from the team may well cost Australia medals, but how far does the "win at all costs" attitude go? How many indiscretions are the public willing to overlook just to hear Advance Australia Fair one more time in Beijing?
D'Arcy's has not been handed a life ban, although it may well amount to that, but it as this does not appear to be an isolated incident, as he initially claimed, and he should have known better, especially since before the incident he had been at a team meeting where cricket legend Steve Waugh spoke about what an honour it is to represent Australia.
Many sports fans are frustrated by the behaviour of athletes, who seem to get away with more than most, and have shown their tolerance for loutish behaviour to be waning. Australians rightly proclaim Shane Warne to be one of the greatest bowlers of all time, but even the most true blue Aussie will concede that Warne's antics off the field have taken some of the shine off his stellar career.
At an event with the standing of the Olympics, each athlete represents not only themselves, their team mates and their sport, but their entire nation as they compete on sport's biggest stage and their conduct off the field will be scrutinised just as much as their performance on it. Do Australians really want someone like Nick D'Arcy representing them in Beijing?
Learn more about this author, Hamish McBrearty.
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