Russian Ukraine War

[mateinone]

Now whilst I can appreciate that this is an inflammatory situation, how do we feel about this?  Should people not be able to support a Russian athlete at the Australian open?

I found myself wondering why the backlash.  There will always be the idea that someone is unhappy to see a flag of another nation somewhere, but provided they arent making a political statement with it, or that flag doesnt represent something like the Nazi flag (without having a better example off the top of my head at the minute) shouldnt this be fair play?

Just curious, and checking what people's thought process is here. 

Personally I understand it, but I don't really like it either (banning flags).
I think the problem is that either way there is the potential for one of 2 groups to be ostracized and that the Aus Open (and other events) need to decide which group will be impacted.

It is true that Russians should be able to support Russian athletes with pride, they should be able to show pride in their heritage and their homeland without prejudice and supporting the Russian flag is different to supporting the Z symbol or even the Soviet flag which would be inappropriate as it could be used to insinuate that Moscow should control Kiev.

However what is probable is that a lot of people would use these flags as a symbol of aggression as well towards Ukrainian players and this is unacceptable. Already a number of Ukrainians have indicated they didn't even want to face a Russian athlete and this situation is, of course, understandable, but then seeing the flag of the aggressor that is raising their flag above your cities after killing your citizens, is really intolerable.

Perhaps the Australian Open (and other events) could consider are more measured approach and allow the Russian flag to be displayed only in games with Russian competitors and only when a Ukrainian is not one of the players on the court. Whilst Ukrainians would rather see the flag totally banished, I personally in a nation of free speech (with the exception of hate speech etc), would prefer to see this approach, which respects both the feelings of Ukrainian athletes and the rights of the spectators.