devosteve wrote:If the real reason is that he is aiming to go to the PDC but they are using this to 'punish' him that the BDO need to be careful. Wagner could claim that he is being unfairly treated if other players have said the same/similar thing. Btw i also understand the BDO's point: but is a total ban justified?
Has he or his national org made any more comment?
Now back to my 'translation' point. I'm no mug (well i like to think i'm not) and realise he probably knew and meant what he said, with the phrase used. But does no-one else think that Wagner could claim he didn't mean to use such a strong word?
British Darts Organisation 16th September 2012
Tournament Director Wayne Williams
ROBERT WAGNER'S PARTICIPATION IN WINMAU WORLD MASTERS
We refer to your letter dated 14th September were you are refusing our entry of Robert Wagner to the Winmau World Masters due to a comment he made at the Scandinavian Tour in Finland August 11th.
First we want to make clear that Wagner's comments entirely stands for his own account. The board of the Norwegian Darts Federation is aware of the video on YouTube and has spoken to Wagner after this incident. He explains that his intention in this interview was to praise the organizers of the tournament which he thought had done a good job. Then he compared to his last appearance at the Winmau which he felt was noisy, crowdy and with too low temperature in the playing area. These views are also shared with other players. Thus he apologizes that his comment "Shite" was interpreted as a characterization of the BDO as such, while he actually wanted to give some critique of last year's playing conditions. Robert Wagner does not speak fluent English, and with limited language skill's he misses the nuances when trying to explain what he means.
Even if we are aware of Wagner’s comments, the Norwegian Darts .
Federation is very surprised by the BDO's refusal of his entry at such a late stage. Robert Wagner won the Norwegian Championship in March and as Norwegian Champion he should be qualified for the Winmau due to earlier agreements. Thus the federation has booked flight and hotel for him in good faith. Even if this incident happened more than one month ago, no indications are given that his entry would be refused. No warnings are either given to Wagner himself, and he has not gotten any chance to explain himself before this disciplinary reaction.
Thus, we feel that refusing an entry because of a thoughtless comment like this is an overreaction. This was a one-time incident and should be treated as so.
If the refusal is kept we also want to know what this implies for Wagner's later potential appearances in other BDO-tournaments. Is this a one-time refusal or is it time limited suspension? If so, for how long is the suspension, is it valid for all BDO-event or only Winmau/Lakeside?
Yours sincerely
Roar Bustebakke
President
Norwegian Darts Federation
