All England 2021 – What Happened?

While the All England 2021 saw some great badminton, it came among the backdrop of significant controversy which has partially overshadowed the success of the victors of the tournament.

Almost one week after the conclusion of the tournament, the Indonesians are still targeting the BWF. Generally denouncing them as a terrible federation and causing havoc across all their social media accounts.

While they have the right to protest, I do not condone some of the responses that BWF and other players and BWF associates have received. In particular, aggressive messages towards Danish players and a terrorist comment made directly to BWF. Many of those on the receiving end of such messages were not part of the decision. This misguided aggression is doing more harm than good to Indonesia’s otherwise stellar status in the badminton world.

An apology letter directly from Paul Erik Hoyer Larsen seems to have done little by way of restoring public relations with the Indonesians. Let’s have a look at what actually happened for context and what lessons perhaps could be learned from the All England 2021.

What I Don’t Think Happened

Many Indonesians have commented that their squad was removed from the tournament because the organisers did not want them to win. In fact, Indonesian Badminton Association head Agung Firman Sampurna said “one way to prevent Indonesia from winning is keeping it from competing”.

I believe this is not the case at all. Rather this is the result of people perhaps thinking with their emotions rather than logic. Nobody, least of all the organisers, would want to dilute the most prestigious badminton tournament even further in the absence of other significant badminton nations, players and spectators.

What We Know

In the UK, when arriving from a foreign country, you have to self-isolate for 10 days. However, elite athletes are exempt from this, providing as you “proceed directly to the footprint of the listed elite sports event you are participating in, and remain either self-isolated or within the event location (or locations if the event has multiple venues) until your departure from the UK.” Basically, a confusing way of saying, the exception applies as long as you remain with your team within the venue of the event/accommodation.

All athletes taking part in the All England 2021 tournament were also subject to covid tests preflight and post-flight. They are also routine tests throughout the duration of the tournament. It’s important to note here that the Indonesian team had received both vaccines prior to their flight.

The News

The minions, the daddies as well as Jonathan Christie had won their first-round match. Then the NHS test and trace system contacted the Indonesian team (but funnily enough not Neslihan Yiğit of Turkey at the time) to inform them that a passenger on their flight to the UK had tested positive for Covid. As a result, both countries had to withdraw from the tournament. You can see Marcus Fernaldi Gideon’s response below.

This came on the backdrop of a delayed start to the All England 2021. A number of positive and inconclusive results from tests carried out on participants. Thomas Stavngaard, assistant coach of Denmark, alongside three members of the Indian team and one of their support staff had initially tested positive. According to Sport.TV2 Malaysia was also on the same flight as India.

So, per the “rules” India and Malaysia would have had to self-isolate for 10 days as well as Denmark. This would have effectively withdrawn them from the competition. However, after tests were rerun, no positive cases were found in the Danish team or the Indians. Therefore permission was granted to continue with their tournament.

Meanwhile, despite all the Indonesians testing negative, they still were withdrawn from the competition because they had “close contact” with someone who tested positive. According to the rules, they were denied a retest.

Indonesians & Turkish Point Of View

So the only difference between the two cases is that there was a positive result outside of their team structure. Because the Indians, Thai’s and Danish later tested negative, there were no “close contact” implications.

1. It would be understandable that the Indonesians and Turkish player have a lack of faith in the testing since so many came back inconclusive, only to be negative later.
2. Even if the person on the plane was legitimately positive, none of the Indonesian team had positive results AND they were all vaccinated so there was a low additional risk to the event.
3. There seemed to be a double standard of how the Indonesians were treated vs India, Denmark, Malaysia and Thailand with retests not permitted for the Indonesian team.

It’s clear the frustration here is how the other nations who had tested negative at a later point were allowed to continue the tournament. According to Badminton England “This is not a sports decision, it is a response to the pandemic by Government, medical professionals and scientists.”

But in the same statement by Adrian Christy regarding some of the inconclusive tests, he mentioned “An issue arose over the weekend which required individuals to self-isolate whilst some tests were repeated. These repeated tests were all negative and on the advice of health protection advisers it was possible for these individuals to return to sporting action.”

So it begs the question, in light of negative covid tests other nations were allowed to continue their tournament. So why could the health protection advisors not make the same decision for Indonesia and Turkey?

BWF and Badminton England Point Of View

Any elite competition is subject to government rules and regulations and this is something outside of the tournament organisers control.

So the tournament organisers were complying with their legal obligations. This was in order to maintain the health and safety of all those involved in the event. None-the-less BWF did make it clear that Badminton England made “impassioned attempts” to allow the Indonesians to compete. Nonetheless, the rules seemed to be rigid.

I can’t help but feel if badminton was a larger spectator sport in the UK (like football), they might have figured out a way to allow the affected team to continue if there were negative tests as in this case.

How BWF Dealt With The Issue

On Thursday 18th of March, BWF released a statement confirming the withdrawal of the Indonesians and Turkish players. They cited a covid positive test on their flight. Thus began the Indonesian backlash. BWF remained pretty quiet thereafter. However on the 21st of March where they issued an apology directly to the Indonesian government and wider badminton community.

While an apology was a step in the right direction it didn’t seem to address the crux of the issue. The issue being why Indonesia was withdrawn while the other nations could continue their tournament. The only difference was the fact that a stranger on a plane tested positive instead of someone in the national team, making them ineligible for a retest.

If BWF had addressed this in their letter and noted that NHS guidelines and Public Health England were actually the reason there was a legal obligation to withdraw the Indonesian and Turkish players, then this might have relieved some pressure. However, the actual reason for the withdrawal was not present in their letter at all. Further, why other nations could continue to play was also omitted. In my opinion, this lack of clarity has only made things worse.

Questions BWF Might Need To Ask Themselves

How Can Covid Be Avoided?

Simply, it can’t be right now. One of the problems with Badminton at this particular time is that all tournaments are international. This means players inevitably have to cross borders and risk infection. They are always going to risk exposure to the virus.

They can only manage the tournament arrangements to be as Covid secure as possible. The onus is on them not only to abide by government rules but go above and beyond to ensure the health and safety of all involved participating and running the tournaments.

Was it Right To Sanction The Restart Of Tournaments?

I’m sure there must have been some level of risk assessment when deciding to restart the badminton tour. However, the complexity is that each individual host nation will have its own laws governing the pandemic. While it’s pretty clear that some governments are not allowing sports events at all, others have strict rules to follow.

The safest option for BWF would have been to simply wait. Players, coaches and fans, would understand the importance to be patient during these times. Particularly as different nations are suffering to differing degrees. Each nation also has its own rules and regulations. Not only should BWF be aware of these rules when organising tournaments but also the individual nations as part of their due diligence.

If all teams understand the rules through their own research and BWF has competently informed the regulatory bodies of each country, then it is up to each nation as to whether they want to risk sending representatives to certain tournaments. BWF need to focus on running the tournament correctly and according to rules. If any issues do arise, all teams should have been comprehensively briefed prior to the event.

Was Sufficient Scenario Analysis Carried Out?

The last thing the BWF need is a repeat of what happened at the All England. It might be pretty clear from rules laid out by governments of what to do in common situations. But there will be situations that are not wholly covered. Such as we noted at the All England with the Turkish and Indonesian players. The whole pandemic situation is new to all of us and therefore all eventualities cannot be covered by broad-based rules. It will take time for sports, in general, to adjust, at least until we’re over all of this.

BWF should seek clarity on this situation and other potential situations which they identify. If it’s a case that there are rules that simply aren’t flexible, they need to consider a risk analysis of sanctioning that tournament in the first place. If there is guidance, rather than rules, BWF should seek to understand how far this guidance can bend to accommodate such situations. They will also need to consider, in the absence of clarity, how they can go the extra step to ensure the smooth running of the tournament in a safe way for all involved if they are to go ahead with it. This is riskier for BWF but if they manage to do it successfully, it will pay dividends for future tournaments during this time.

The next big tournament in May 2021 in India, where covid cases are again on the rise at the time of writing. BWF now need to be careful and learn lessons from the All England 2021. If they push forward with the tournament without the application of these lessons, they risk another backlash.

Conclusion

I understand the need for the BWF and All England 2021 Tournament to comply with UK Government rules. However, I do think withdrawing from the Indonesian team was unfair given the negative tests and the fact they had received both doses of the vaccine. There needed to be some flexibility here, particularly with not allowing retests. It seems very likely there was no additional risk to the tournament.

Do you think the Indonesians were unfairly treated at the All England 2021? Let me know in the comments below.

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