- Aug 19, 2010
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As reported today in the New York Times http://formulaone.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/03/fia-reinstates-bahrain-grand-prix/?hpw (and doubtlessly in other newspapers around the world) the International Automobile Union (FIA) has decided to reinstate the Bahrain Grand Prix after cancelling it earlier this year due to the "the bloody anti-government protests in... downtown Manama". I'm probably more surprised that they did the right thing at the time than they've decided to reinstate the race today.
This is eerily familiar to the goings on at at the UCI. For example, the Formula One team directors agreed last week that they did not want to race in Bahrain, both for reasons of safety and because it was morally wrong to race in a country undergoing such political turmoil. But the decision is solely in the hands of FIA's World Council. Bernie Ecclestone also made a statement fit for any president of the UCI, "Nothing to do with money at all. Nothing, in any shape or form".
What doesn't seem to matter to the FIA though, is what has happened in Bahrain. The Independent reported today http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/bahrain-lobbies-to-retain-grand-prix-as-formula-one-staff-are-held-and-abused-2292459.html that, "Of the 108 local staff of the government-owned Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), which hosts Formula One, some 28 were detained and mistreated according to a source in Bahrain close to the event. All of those arrested are Shia and have since been sacked. Five of these are still in prison including the chief financial officer Jaafar Almansoor".
In spite of what Bernie says, it's awfully sad what sports have turned into in this world. But I can't say I'm too surprised.
This is eerily familiar to the goings on at at the UCI. For example, the Formula One team directors agreed last week that they did not want to race in Bahrain, both for reasons of safety and because it was morally wrong to race in a country undergoing such political turmoil. But the decision is solely in the hands of FIA's World Council. Bernie Ecclestone also made a statement fit for any president of the UCI, "Nothing to do with money at all. Nothing, in any shape or form".
What doesn't seem to matter to the FIA though, is what has happened in Bahrain. The Independent reported today http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/bahrain-lobbies-to-retain-grand-prix-as-formula-one-staff-are-held-and-abused-2292459.html that, "Of the 108 local staff of the government-owned Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), which hosts Formula One, some 28 were detained and mistreated according to a source in Bahrain close to the event. All of those arrested are Shia and have since been sacked. Five of these are still in prison including the chief financial officer Jaafar Almansoor".
In spite of what Bernie says, it's awfully sad what sports have turned into in this world. But I can't say I'm too surprised.
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