[Malcolm Armsteen]

WTF?

[mattomac]

Have to say I’m finding the whole thing amusing, if it’s the protests for a tennis player you are on about.

[Bones McCoy]

A cynic might suggest that minority sports need this sort of drama to increase interest.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

"But he can't be cheating, he's from SERBIA!'

I've never heard such a collection of half-arsed excuses since I last taught Year 9.

[Cyclist]

Would someone like to explain what has been going on in Serbia? None of the posts so far in this thread have been particularly enlightening.

[Bones McCoy]

Nominative Determinist Tennis player "No Vax" Djokovic wanted to perform in Australia.

The Aussies are pretty fussy about Quarantine and the like.

The Tennis player claimed an "exemption" - we have little detail about this, but in Australian terms it had all the authority of a note from his mum.

There is confusion between what the Aussie tennis club promised, and what the Australian government was prepared to concede.

[Cyclist]

Ah, right. Nothing actually important then. And if someone is sticking two fingers up at an anti-vaxxer then everything is as it should be.

When I saw the first post I had a flashback to the 1990s and Serbian ethnic cleansing. Thank dog it's not that serious.

[zuriblue]

There is a simple explanation

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[Oboogie]

When I saw the first post I had a flashback to the 1990s and Serbian ethnic cleansing. Thank dog it's not that serious.

That was my thought too.
But nah, it's just some people getting over excited about racket-ball.

Still, I'm sure Novax will be welcomed to Wimbledon with opened arms.
However, if he attempts to attend the French open, Macron will have him shot on sight before he's clear of Charles de Gaulle.
Swings and roundabouts.

[kreuzberger]

It's a girls' game, anyway. But, it soaks up enough BBC airtime to avoid reporting on the destruction of the NHS and the out-of-control Covid numbers.

[Oboogie]

A glance at Twitter indicates that the story appears to be of interest to the global media.
I wish we had a government which took COVID as seriously as the Aussies.

[Samanfur]

Amen to that.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

The gist of the Serbian response (and this is from the president and he prime minister) seems to be

"We are Serbia. So you can't do this."
"Don't you know who he is?"
"Who does Australia think they are?"
"It's about human rights."
"No you can't know the reason for his exemption."
"Because reasons"
"Waaah"

No-Vax's father has called for people to come out on the streets to demonstrate...

[Spoonman]

I've been out to Australia twice, while the country does have its record regarding asylum seekers arriving by sea to Australia as a major blot on its record book, the general frontline workers of Australia's border force, at least at its airports, in my experience are firm but friendly - moreso than their British counterparts and they're happy to help you if you have any doubts about what's allowed/acceptable, needs to be done etc. However they definitely do not like the wool being pulled over their eyes by people trying to pull a fast one, as anyone whom has watched at least a few episodes of Border Force Australia on Pick TV/various Sky channels can attest to. And they have no general hang ups about who you are and be willing to make an example of as you're sent on the next flight home.

Seems to me at this stage that Djokovic tried to pull a fast one at Melbourne Airport and was arrogant enough to think that his celebrity/national hero status would allow him to walk through where thousands in the past haven't. And unless he somehow gets clearance through a court order to enter the country he'll be on the next available flight to Dubai with the Federal government, in typical Australian bluntness, tell their Serbian counterparts to XXXX off.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Australians do not like people who get above themselves, do they?

[Bones McCoy]

Ah, right. Nothing actually important then. And if someone is sticking two fingers up at an anti-vaxxer then everything is as it should be.

When I saw the first post I had a flashback to the 1990s and Serbian ethnic cleansing. Thank dog it's not that serious.

if you were to read his "followers" on facebook you'd understand that this is worse than the holocaust.

[Bones McCoy]

Australians do not like people who get above themselves, do they?

Even that Sir Les Patterson got all snobby once he received the knighthood.

[kreuzberger]

Granted, some are absolute toilet, but Australians, I find, and they are the financial bedrock of our business, are utterly pragmatic and fundamentally wedded to their belief in fair play. All that brusque bravado is a way of playing down that decency but they are dependable and you'll never go to bed wondering "what they meant by that".

[Bones McCoy]

I've read all the facebooks now and here's what I understand.

No-Vax fans want to speak with the manager of Australia.

[Nigredo]

No-Vax's father has called for people to come out on the streets to demonstrate...

Well, at least it will get Piers Corbyn off of these shores for a couple of weeks.