Nationals Controversy

bazza

bazza

look at me
well the story is in the news section of the site check it out and post your comments.

my thoughts are that they should be made to wear national jersesys at world championships and leave the teams to have their riders covered in advertising at the world cups. it makes more sense to keep the world champs a nationality event and the cup as platform for teams. i mean bryn sitting on the starting line for 10 minutes just to avoid this. thats crazy. riders being forced/choosing not to ride to there peak just to keep the teams happy. looks a tad silly as well imo.
 
ajay

ajay

^Once punched Jeff Kennett. Don't pick an e-fight
Yeah, agreed.

its bullshit that riders/teams are forced into a corner like that. If you represent Australia then wear the uniform, the same as if you were representing 'madcatz' or 'Giant' etc.... fair is fair.

Imagine you were the rider tho, on the start gate thinking "do i want to be National Champion or Hold onto my sponsors.." shithouse situation to be faced with...
 
BrumbyJack

BrumbyJack

Likes Dirt
It's a no brainer if you are the rider... you support your sponsor, they pay your way.

It is very sad for it to end this way though :( Nobody really wins in the long run :(

I don't think this is the first sport to have this happen though.... A lot of sports have rules about sponsors logo sizes, I just think MTB is lucky enough that the sponsors actually give a hell of a lot of money (compared to some sports), so they deserve the extra coverage.
 
W2ttsy

W2ttsy

Likes Dirt
this happened at eildon too.

sam hill took a dive on sunday so that he wouldnt have to wear the plain white jersey next season.

he cant wear a mat catz jersey at the worlds, so mad catz only chance for fame is the MTBA nats, and they told him to take a dive so that he wouldnt have to wear the white jersey and forgo sponsorship logos for an entire season.

this is starting to get rediculous. someone needs to lighten up so that riders arent told by their sponsors to do a crap run.

still props to sam for getting an insane time in his qualifier...

W2ttsy
 
Daver

Daver

Kung Fu Panda
The UCI are not the greatest leaders. If we all turn up at a road crit wearing bright knicks and coloured socks we'd be banned. Seriously, it's not a good thing for a sport when the "national championships" are boy cotted because of a pathetic ruling by the UCI to restrict sponsors logo sizes. At least the World Champion Jersey looks better than half the national jerseys...
 
bazza

bazza

look at me
yer but still it should be
world championships - a nationality affair
world cups - teams.
unless another world cup circut to the same size as the world cups comes up than these will be the major events for teams in the year. come on uci give the teams a break. its not like you guys are putting up huge amounts of prize money *rolls eyes* btw does anyone know the figures of prize money at any recent events?
 
blt2ride

blt2ride

Likes Dirt
This is Crazy...

This is just crazy; the rules need to change. With sponsorship being so difficult to get these days, the riders need to promote the companies who are supporting them. It makes no sense that a rider has to take a "dive" to support their sponsors.

Here in the States, we have to deal with NORBA, who has their share of problems, but nothing as bad as this...
 
D

digger

Likes Dirt
i don't understand why they can't just have bands on the cuffs & collar of their jersey like the rainbow for a WC title. it would have been great to see rennie (or any other rider up to it on the day) smash the course and wait for the clock to tick over just before the finish line (ala ferrari in F1 a couple of years ago), just to stick it to the UCI, maybe they'd wake up to themselves then.
 
R

Ryan

Radministrator
If the UCI is actually capable of making a rational, forward thinking decision when it comes to mountain biking then now would be the perfect time. How can these people claim to have the best interests of our sport at heart? This ridiculous policy devalues the whole idea of even running National Championships, why bother with them if the fastest riders are going to purposely try NOT to win?

Why do they want to punish riders for being successful? This sort of shit wouldn't fly in any other sport in the world...

"Uh, sorry Ferrari, gotta run plain white cars with small logos this year because you're the current champions"
"Sorry Port Adelaide / Bulldogs / Chelsea / whatever code of football, it's the all-pink strip with tiny logos for you this year, that'll learn you for winning"

The UCI need to pull their fucking heads out of their arses.
 
donthucktoflat

donthucktoflat

Eats Squid
aargh, this is soo infuriating. i mean, seriously... a rider should be able to ride their fastest.. to have the threat of losing sposorship through WINNING a race.. for the UCI to be so stubborn on changing the rule.. crazy
 
scblack

scblack

Leucocholic
Ryan said:
"Uh, sorry Ferrari, gotta run plain white cars with small logos this year because you're the current champions"

The UCI need to pull their fucking heads out of their arses.
Click to expand...
Well, actually Ferrari do, in every country where tobacco sponsorship is banned.

But, I agree, this is small minded from UCI, and is hurting the interests of sponsored riders, and the general community who want to see the best riding by the best riders, which is what we are missing out from this.
 
FR Drew

FR Drew

Not a custom title.
To have a situation where race organizers are putting up huge prize money for the training/qualifying times because they know the top riders will be holding back in the finals is just bloody ridiculous. It means the race isn't actually the race. What's the point?
 
Old Shagger

Old Shagger

Farkin Legend
5 or 6 yrs ago the DH racing numbers were at a low point both State & National. It was hard to find enough people to commit to building,running and promoting a DH event to get a series together. Now through the hard work of Tony Scott(Mtba) and a huge amount of people and sponsers behind the scenes that the majority of riders to not have any thought or idea about, the whole DH scene both State and Nationally is getting stronger and bigger every season. The top riders are going better & better, sponsers are injecting more, as their confidence and seen value gets better. Shit like this from the UCI can very quickly destroy the years of hard work and vision of so many. What a joke that the best riders in the world with the best teams in the world are put in this position. Then there is the poor Race/event promoters and all the people who have taken time of work/familys etc to build and org this event to have this shoved in there face. Get your head out of your ass UCI QUICKLY re this, otherwise the promotors/sponsers and then the riders will be back to where we were 5 yrs ago!
 
fastrider gus

fastrider gus

super huck
riders should just stick it to the man, why do they need to have stuff written on their top for their sponsors? isnt it enough that they are using their sponsors bike/component? i dont see how they should loose a sponsorship just because they cant have a brand name on a jersey.. it should be an honor to be able to wear the national champ jersey, not a hastle, and the sponsors should be proud of their rider.. thats just a different way of looking at it.
 
toodles

toodles

Wheel size expert
IMO, maybe just having the National Championship stripes on the collars and cuffs or having a National Champs flag on their sleeves would be sufficient and a sensible compromise. That way sponsors are kept happy and riders get the honour (if that's the word) or wearing their National colours for a year. Let's face it - it's really the sponsors who support our elite riders through the World Cup series, not out national riding bodies so they rightly deserve the exposure they're paying for.

The UCI has f*cked up so many things trying to manage MTB - a sport they show no real interest in encouraging. Perhaps they should hand the reins over to a more suitable organisation that has the passion the sport deserves. Then the UCI can go back to enforcing their draconian socks regulations in road racing...
 
jamsta

jamsta

Jamsta Grafix
Ryan said:
If the UCI is actually capable of making a rational, forward thinking decision when it comes to mountain biking then now would be the perfect time. How can these people claim to have the best interests of our sport at heart? This ridiculous policy devalues the whole idea of even running National Championships, why bother with them if the fastest riders are going to purposely try NOT to win?

Why do they want to punish riders for being successful? This sort of shit wouldn't fly in any other sport in the world...

"Uh, sorry Ferrari, gotta run plain white cars with small logos this year because you're the current champions"
"Sorry Port Adelaide / Bulldogs / Chelsea / whatever code of football, it's the all-pink strip with tiny logos for you this year, that'll learn you for winning"

The UCI need to pull their fucking heads out of their arses.
Click to expand...

here here!! - well said Ryan

We need our team riders on the bike, in the gear and performing to their best. The sport needs all the support it can get, and with the tossers from UCI dictating how it should look, they're just pushing the sponsorship $ away - well done UCI :rolleyes:
 
R

Ryan

Radministrator
toodles said:
IMO, maybe just having the National Championship stripes on the collars and cuffs or having a National Champs flag on their sleeves would be sufficient and a sensible compromise. That way sponsors are kept happy and riders get the honour (if that's the word) or wearing their National colours for a year. Let's face it - it's really the sponsors who support our elite riders through the World Cup series, not out national riding bodies so they rightly deserve the exposure they're paying for.

The UCI has f*cked up so many things trying to manage MTB - a sport they show no real interest in encouraging. Perhaps they should hand the reins over to a more suitable organisation that has the passion the sport deserves. Then the UCI can go back to enforcing their draconian socks regulations in road racing...
Click to expand...
Here comes the sarcasm train...

You obviously don't get it toodles, the rule is good for the roadies and they are like some kind of better, more evolved life-form than we backward, mouth-breathing mountain-bikers. Vis-a-vis, anything that's good for road racers must be good for us!

To answer fastrider_gus; the problem, as I see it for sponsors is something like this: If you sponsor a road racing team, you get your logo on 6-8 riders, usually say, 2 or 3 who are established, talented racers capable of winning events and 4 to 6 up-and-comers. Thus, when one rider is a national champion and has to race in a national champions jersey the overall exposure your brand loses is only a small fraction of the total exposure the team generates for your product.

On the other hand, if you sponsor a downhill race team, you're lucky to get your logo on 2 racers and realistically (except in a few cases) only one of them is going to be a top-level rider. If that rider is a national champion and forced to ride in the national champions jersey, the exposure your brand receives is slashed by a huge percentage and you are quite rightly, pissed that you're paying good money for sub-standard exposure.
 
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