It is hard today to write about sporting wins and
triumphs with 129 murders having taken place in Paris last Friday.
So many of our teams and sportsmen have pledged their
support by silences of remembrance for the dead, the injured and the relatives
and friends of those who were in the wrong place at the wrong time on
Friday.
It would be, in my opinion, bad form to ignore it here as
if it had never happened so I will communicate on this from a sporting
viewpoint.
There are cancellations and postponements of various
sporting events balanced with those that will go ahead. No one wants to put
anyone at risk of being murdered or maimed. On the other hand however, one has
to show solidarity that Friday’s carnage will not deter one from normal
sporting activities, local, national or international.
As an international swimmer in my youth, with other
sports in the background, tennis, athletics, netball and football to name a
few, I wonder what I would do under the current circumstances: take part in a
match or stay home. Are sporting events at risk? Theatre and dinning certainly
were. To be honest I just don’t know.
Many of our horse racing friends and race horse breeders
are Muslim.
They are not murderers, they are descent people doing
what they do within their culture and religious beliefs and ours when they
visit or do business here. We practice religious tolerance and they do the same
in Dubai. Such tolerance was confirmed in Article 18 of the Unilateral
Declaration of Human Rights.
If you travel to Dubai for the racing ensure you follow
their laws, culture and traditions. They are written up in many places on the
internet and our reliable friend Wikipedia is no exception.
When foreigners come to our shores we expect respect for
our laws, culture and traditions. It is our job to reciprocate when we go to
theirs. This last applies to any country you travel too, Islamic or otherwise.
Tolerance of religious belief and practice was signed up to at The United
nations in the Unilateral Declaration of Human rights 1948.
One hears of someone’s ‘human rights’ being violated quite
often but which one or ones are they referring to. There are 30 rights listed. If you have an
interest in your security and that of your family, friends and nation and
foreign visitors to our shores know it well. It is part of International Law.
Our sportsmen and women are having a tough time of it in
athletics and football and the Davis Cup finals are in Belgium in Ghent, 35
miles from Molenbeek. Murray has said, “I don’t want to live in fear each time
I step on a court” but he will be there. Good on you Murray do your best for
the Brits. Keep safe all of you, players and audiences.
The International Tennis Federation said it is continuing
with preparations with the emphasis on security operations.
My thoughts are the same for those players and crowds who
attend the France v England match at Wembley on Tuesday 17th
November 2015. Keep safe.
Jemima J. Jones.
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