steve jones
Active Member
Losing out to other sports in the battle for IOC acceptance is a debilitating result for any sport...I can so report from personal experience. Of course what sports usually do NOT do is honestly and publicly report their feelings as by doing so is to become black listed for ....well God only knows how long!
Baseball, it appears, has had enough..at least the following report from the publication "Sports Insider" of August 19 would indicate as much.
There will be a few sports thinking exactly what has been reported here - but not daring to utter the words.....I extend my empathy.
Some readers might think this is Baseball simply being "bad sports" in light of a defeat - others may take the longer view that "this is baseball being realistic about how the IOC game is played - and simply having a gut full". You be the judge.
Baseball: Schiller Slams IOC
International Baseball Federation (IBAF) President Dr Harvey Schiller has accused the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of having "no interest in baseball" in the wake of the sport’s failure to make the cut for the 2016 Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) last week selected golf and rugby sevens for proposed inclusion in the 2016 Olympic Games, rejecting bids from baseball, along with karate, roller sports, softball and squash. In a letter to supporters of baseball’s bid, Schiller dismissed the IBAF’s chances of continuing its Olympic drive stating it would not be "prudent" for a number of reasons. The move is an about-turn from the IBAF’s initial stance following Thursday’s decision where it indicated that it would seek inclusion at the 2020 Olympics.
Schiller said: "Many have also asked about re-submitting a bid for 2020. At this point we do not think that would be prudent for a number of reasons, the biggest of which is that baseball has now been rejected twice by the senior members of the IOC, which is a clear message that despite any changes we make, we are not part of their plan. Also contrary to what we were originally told, the two sports that made it to the vote in Copenhagen, golf and rugby, have been informed they will be part of the programme in 2020. This was yet another clear message that the IOC has no interest in baseball. It makes much more sense to spend all our time, money and effort in continued development of the game around the world, as opposed to making futile attempts to work with a group that has no interest in partnering with baseball."
Schiller has also hit out at the selection process and has accused countries with a strong baseball background of failing to to back up their promises to back the IBAF’s bid. He continued: "We were also disappointed to see, even with all the concessions made, that a number of members of the IOC Executive Committee who said they would support baseball chose not to support the sport when the vote was taken. Of the countries where we thought we would have had 100% support...Italy, Japan, Puerto Rico, Germany and Mexico especially...we never received more than two votes per round, meaning for some reason unknown to us, even those countries where the sport is strong, officials still didn’t think that baseball should be part of the Olympic programme, despite all that we had done."
Schiller added: "It was clear from the start of the process that several senior IOC officials were in favour of rugby and golf and many comments made on and off the record supported that fact, so perhaps that is why we did not get the votes we were anticipating and had been promised last week." He concluded: "I am very proud of not just the effort we made, but the way we made the effort. We did not waste money on high priced teams of consultants or advertising campaigns that were proved by other sports to be pointless and a distraction from the mission of growing the sport. Instead we concentrated on telling the stories, building consensus, aligning long-term support and exposing the game to as wide an audience as possible, and those efforts, with or without the Olympics, have created a much more solid base for year round effective growth of baseball than ever existed before."
ENDS.,........
Baseball, it appears, has had enough..at least the following report from the publication "Sports Insider" of August 19 would indicate as much.
There will be a few sports thinking exactly what has been reported here - but not daring to utter the words.....I extend my empathy.
Some readers might think this is Baseball simply being "bad sports" in light of a defeat - others may take the longer view that "this is baseball being realistic about how the IOC game is played - and simply having a gut full". You be the judge.
Baseball: Schiller Slams IOC
International Baseball Federation (IBAF) President Dr Harvey Schiller has accused the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of having "no interest in baseball" in the wake of the sport’s failure to make the cut for the 2016 Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) last week selected golf and rugby sevens for proposed inclusion in the 2016 Olympic Games, rejecting bids from baseball, along with karate, roller sports, softball and squash. In a letter to supporters of baseball’s bid, Schiller dismissed the IBAF’s chances of continuing its Olympic drive stating it would not be "prudent" for a number of reasons. The move is an about-turn from the IBAF’s initial stance following Thursday’s decision where it indicated that it would seek inclusion at the 2020 Olympics.
Schiller said: "Many have also asked about re-submitting a bid for 2020. At this point we do not think that would be prudent for a number of reasons, the biggest of which is that baseball has now been rejected twice by the senior members of the IOC, which is a clear message that despite any changes we make, we are not part of their plan. Also contrary to what we were originally told, the two sports that made it to the vote in Copenhagen, golf and rugby, have been informed they will be part of the programme in 2020. This was yet another clear message that the IOC has no interest in baseball. It makes much more sense to spend all our time, money and effort in continued development of the game around the world, as opposed to making futile attempts to work with a group that has no interest in partnering with baseball."
Schiller has also hit out at the selection process and has accused countries with a strong baseball background of failing to to back up their promises to back the IBAF’s bid. He continued: "We were also disappointed to see, even with all the concessions made, that a number of members of the IOC Executive Committee who said they would support baseball chose not to support the sport when the vote was taken. Of the countries where we thought we would have had 100% support...Italy, Japan, Puerto Rico, Germany and Mexico especially...we never received more than two votes per round, meaning for some reason unknown to us, even those countries where the sport is strong, officials still didn’t think that baseball should be part of the Olympic programme, despite all that we had done."
Schiller added: "It was clear from the start of the process that several senior IOC officials were in favour of rugby and golf and many comments made on and off the record supported that fact, so perhaps that is why we did not get the votes we were anticipating and had been promised last week." He concluded: "I am very proud of not just the effort we made, but the way we made the effort. We did not waste money on high priced teams of consultants or advertising campaigns that were proved by other sports to be pointless and a distraction from the mission of growing the sport. Instead we concentrated on telling the stories, building consensus, aligning long-term support and exposing the game to as wide an audience as possible, and those efforts, with or without the Olympics, have created a much more solid base for year round effective growth of baseball than ever existed before."
ENDS.,........
