just remember that this is an interview with Susi, not Peter. Peter's views are not his direct words. Someone has summarised (and translated from Danish probably) them to put at the top of an article. I don't know what his exact words were. If he meant Asian dominance detracts from the enjoyment for Western spectators, then I agree. When I watch badminton, I have more emotional involvement when there is an English or GB player involved.
I agree and I think this is natural especially when one doesn't have a big pool of good players like China. That's why it was a delight even for me in Asia to sample the electric atmosphere at the recent AE XD Final, albeit second hand on the telly. It's only good for English, UK and even world badminton.
I agree, its an image problem, especially in the UK. Rule changes by the governing body are risky in the extreme and wont really change public perception of Badminton as they still dont know much about the game due to limited media exposure. Unfortunately it seems to me that its still viewed by a lot of people in the UK as a church hall, back-garden sport They certainly have little idea what a top class badminton match is played like and instead remember the games at school, or at the beach. National newspapers give it next to no coverage, I saw only a small report and a single picture when Emms/Robertson won the XD at AE2005. No results were shown for dailly play at the AE, nevermind tournaments abroad. Squash, and even bowls all get more exposure. Television likewise seems disinterested, even SKY who at least showed the Fri/Sat/Sun of the All England only had a single result of the tournament on their specialist Sports News channel (and yes it was the XD result), no report, no discussion just a line of text mentioning the result. The only advertising I've seen was by Sky for the AE and that was only as part of their monthly features adverts, nothing too specific. I agree that if it was big in the states then it would be huge, as they seem to market sports and tend to glamorise things far better (IE, its not just a 'sport' its also 'entertainment', ala basketball, american football). I'd love to see a type of magazine show for the game with a round-up of results, a focus on the players, an interview with current players, and up-coming competitions. We seem to have so many of them for football, golf, rugby (both codes), and tennis, its a shame that there's not even one for badminton. Problem is who's going to do it? Federations probably dont have the funding to push it, and media companies dont seem to be convinced that its worthwhile (possibly based on viewing figures or the sport's image). If only it could be marketed like football is in the UK that would be something great to see! Anyway sorry for rambling a bit, got carried away there.
Its a bit of a vicious circle though isn't it? There's no big interest in UK Badminton as we're not well placed in the world overall standings and we're not well placed becuase there's no big interest (so most of the young athletes that go on to become professional sportsmen/women choose higher profile sports). I really hope it changes though.
I totally understand your enjoyment and emotional involvement is greater when watching an English and GB players because they are from your country. That is always true for someone that's watching one of their own country compete. But, when you generalize and agree that asian dominance detracts enjoyment for western spectators, thats another issue. Whether its a race issue or a regional dominance issue, its both insensitive to make a statement like that. Lets take NBA for example, it's dominated by black athletes for the most part, have you ever heard any other race or country complain that the dominance of blacks or american athletes is detracting the enjoyment of the sport in the rest of the world ? I would hope its a definite NO. The reason is simple, the NBA players are the best there is. They are the best of the best in the world. What is more fun than to watch the best? The same reasoning should apply in badminton as well. Finally, we need to start thinking these athletes as professionals instead of someone of certain race or country / region that they are from. If any single race / region / country dominates, it could mean the sport is very popular there or they have a successful program or suitable environment to produce top professional athletes in badminton.
