Fighters suspended?

Does anyone know why Ermar Alexander and Diana Fauner have been suspended by the WEKAF GB? I've been looking into stickfighting competitions and thought that Ermar Alexander would be a dead cert for the team, especially after winning all those gold medals at the European championships last year.

Link : http://www.wekafgb.com/content/notices/fighters_suspended_20081001.asp

 

Ask Bill

Gumagalang

Peter

PS. Happy Birthday GB UK

 

Not sure on all the details, but there was a big hoo-hah over it a couple of months ago. It's a shame because Alex absolutely dominates his division and is the best competitive stickfighter in the country at the moment in my opinion.

 

I would do but I've not been to the last two classes due to injuring my back at work.

Thanks, will be celebrating tonight!!

 

I agree! I read online somwhere that they went to a celebration for Philipino culture in London to do a display of Eskrima which was the same night as squad training so they got booted for that. If that is true then it does sound like a pretty lame reason to exclude them from the squad.

 

Sounds a bit lame to me too dude, I think they missed a couple of squad training sessions for pretty legitimate reasons and were booted for that, and the fact that it was said that Alex wasn't in shape for the championships. Again I don't know all the ins and outs, but he definitely seemed in top condition when I saw him at the British Championships and the SENI. Silly reasoning really and more of a personal and political decision by the WEKAF head-honchos I fear.

The major downside is that we probably won't get to see as diverse and exciting an array of fighters at future WEKAF events because of this. Personally I think WEKAF in the UK really need to pull their finger out, get the refereeing in order (at one match there were 3 ref's judging who were from the same school as one of the fighters?) and get rid of the politics and if they want to really move forward in this country.

 

I couldn't agree with you more! Had a look at the site for WEKAF UK and three out of the four head guys are from the same organisation. I certainly smell a political rat running around this situation.

 

Gee, you sure do ask a lot of loaded questions for someone who's brand new to FMA..

 

AGREED!


But people seem to forget,in any sport,no matter how good your "skills" are, you can still get in a heap o' trouble just for being a Removed as a person.


you guys need to get off the politcal garbage and look at the bigger picture.

and NO,I am not saying emar is a Removed

But personal reasons could have done it....

unless you ask john harvey directly,you'll never find out the truth.

 

I think this question should be brought up with WEKAF GB.

If you all feel strongly for Ermar you are going about it the wrong way, by gossiping, he said she said, I heard, bla bla bla, you are just embarassing the poor guy further. The least you could do is find out the facts and then bring up a topic on it. There are always two sides to every story, so consider the feelings and reputations of everyone in this.

Half witted comments do not do anything positive for anyone, the less said the quicker Ermar can get on with his life and I am talking from first hand experience of being kicked off the team myself back in 2001 for missing one tournament in 7 years to visit my dying uncle. The decision is not going to be overturned so the less you drag Ermars name through the mud the quicker he can get on with his life and future promotions of the FMA.

The way you guys are going about it is advertising to the world that he is no-one without the British Team, is that really the case? Or is there far more to promoting FMA than just playing in padded suits??? I think we all know the answer to that one, so like I said let him move on with his head held high and not dragging through the dirt.

Wish him well, support him, don't humiliate him. He knows what he done wrong and rules have to apply to everyone.

Look at it this way, If you do not already have privy to the information then maybe they do not want you to know it????


Best regards

Lucy

 

Not really I was just wondering why one of the top players in his art had been banned, simple as that.

 

I have emailed them asking what is going on but have yet to receive an answer, somehow I get the feeling I will not even get a reply.
The reason I asked the question was to find out the facts and to bring the whole thing to the attention of a wider audience. From what I have read and been told they failed to attend training sessions because of other commitments and got booted of the team. If that is true then it's a pretty poor reason to stop someone competing.

 

This is what prompted me to look for further info and post my question:

"Funny that. We were discriminated recently, and as we were right the first time around, it boiled down to a cultural discrimination (apparently promoting filipino martial arts at the philippine independence day is "avoidable" by us (the only group representing Filipino martial arts at Filipino events), and that we should have gone to a British Squad training instead of promoting the art and enjoying our annual cultural festivity with our fellow kababayans.

Those people who attacked us have now registered the sporting organisation (which aim is to promote eskrima/arnis through its sporting aspect) as a LIMITED COMPANY (turned it into a business and made sure they'd OWN it forever) and have banned Alex and me from attending, competing or having anything to do with the sporting organisation.

Our 'case' is to be reviewed every 6 months, depending on our 'behaviours'. But we think its as good as a lifetime ban coz they never liked us anyway. Alex has just missed to defend his world championship title last July, and for some reason they're punishing us AGAIN for the same issue, and he's going to miss defending his triple GOLD at the European championships next year (as we will be initially banned for 6 months, he will fail to attend two qualifying tournaments for the Europeans).

They sent us a letter regarding our ban last 29 September, and most of the accusations against us there are mere fabrications and lies.

We believe we are the first Filipinos to be banned from this Filipino martial art sporting organisation. Sad, huh?

We have given up on fighting for this as it seems our issue isn't that important. (eg. not getting much support and help from anyone)

Another Filipino cultural aspect bites the dust and goes down the drain. Hooray."

 

And I missed defending my two World Titles and European Titles that I held at the time and I am not Filipino...... I do not know if I was the first non-Filipino, but I am pretty sure I was the first Female, hahahaha! Is this an issue?

Just because they are part Filipino, does not mean they are somehow above the law in Filipino martial arts, does it?

Is that really the rubbish they are emailing to people......

Telling people they are quitters and people do not like them, that is sad!

If I stopped everytime someone got in my way I would be in full speed reverse. That is life!

Sounds to me that if you carry this subject on they might be on the edge ready to jump. You should really let this issue go as like I said you will be doing them more damage by bringing it up as a subject of discussion on a public forum.

Best regards

Lucy

 

Here is the link on WEKAF GB confirming their suspension:

http://www.wekafgb.com/content/notices/fighters_suspended_20081001.asp

If you have WEKAF GB membership I would expect you have every right to ask for clarification by email or at a WEKAF event.

I think you should take the correct channels to find out their reasons and not attempt to damage the names of those involved (Which includes Ermar & Diana) without knowledge of what happened.

Best regards

LUcy

 

If what is written is true then something has to be done about it. Sticking our heads in the sand and hopeing it will go away doesn't solve the problem either, it just causes the people making the problem to feel like they can get away with it. I'm sorry that you missed defending your titles, you should have been given that chance because you had a valid reason to miss the training. They say that also had valid reasons.

 

A team has to have rules, and they are not worth the paper they are written on if you do not enforce them, it seems they just enforced them.

I could have re-qualified the next year, but chose not to as there is far more to the art to take a lifetime and I am remembered to this day as one of their best ever fighters, even the team they have today that did not meet me until this year knew of me as one of the best ever fighters.....my reputation is still in tact and I am still asked to compete again.

Ermar probably could of requalified this coming year too, but went about it the differently, running a petition that called John Harvey Racist, this is very damaging and uncalled for especialliy towards a man that has high regard in the FMA and has for over 25 years. If it was not for the likes of John Harvey there would not be FMA here in the UK today and Ermar would not have been competing in the first place and would not have any medals to complain about. So talk about bite the hand that feeds you.

Two similar stories, two very different outcomes and the only thing different in both stories is the person kicked off the team, so who do you think is to blame for a suspension.

I was not suspended, I was just off the team until I requalified the same as Ermar was initially, sadly meaning we could not defend our titles. But I think Ermar may have been responsible for his own suspension by the way that he acted.

He could have gone and talked to the team and the coaches, but made the choice not to and decided to do it publicly. I thought it was a disgrace and they should have kept it in house as it also can be damaging to WEKAF worldwide. Hardly the way to promote positively an art that you also in turn want people to respect you for.

I offered Ermar support in the PI and he said he did not need it so perhaps we should let him get on with it.

Best regards

Lucy

 

If he has evidence that John Harvey has been racist then it matters very little what he has don over X amount of years for the FMA's. I had no idea that this was an issue, having only read what I had previously posted. Do you have links to the petition or is it not online?

 

They were requested by WEKAF HQ to remove the petition as it was damaging for FMA as a whole.

Put it this way, they presented their case to the WEKAF HQ in Cebu, which at the time had all the WEKAF deligates from all over the world attending, who had it in their power to overturn such a decision and it wasn't????

You cannot go higher than that. They done everything they could and they were subsequently suspended.

I do not think you can question the decision of WEKAF HQ as well?????

Best regards

Lucy

 

I wasn't questioning anyone, I was just looking to get the facts.