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Very mixed feelings and interesting comments on the GBtennisgirls forum regarding Carl Maes
"This is great news! It's a pity he won't refund the 20% bonus he got last year for failing to meet his targets!"
"don't often disagree with you but things were moving in the right direction under this guy's guidance"
"He had to go, he was caught on the security camera over looking the car park, he was being very friendly in his car with one of the office girls.
If Naomi Broady and David Rice get suspended for having a few laughs on Bebo or facebook then he gets the boot. I also think that Draper should go for having an affair as well, if he expects the kids to be squeaky clean he then should lead by example"
-- Edited by Drew on Saturday 18th of April 2009 05:03:54 PM
Who knows what the reasons for him leaving are (it's a pity anyway, I got the impression he was doing a better job there than most), but what you've quoted above is clearly unsubstantiated (not to mention potentially libellous) gossip.
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I think you would find in a court of law that whoever made the comments on the GBtennisgirls site could only be taken to task if the said word could be proven untrue.
The problem with Libel laws is that although you may be able to prove what was said it actually true, you have to be careful of the hidden or extended meaning of what you are saying, which you may not be able to prove.
eg. you may be able to prove that he was "friendly" with one of the office girls, but there are certain implications to saying that about someone what you immediately think of that you might not be able to prove.
(and technically they have libelled the office girls - anyone one of them could say that someone read the board and people believed it was them who was "friendly" with him, and so that would lower them in the estimation of the reasonable person.
Now it could be argued that comments on a message board would represent an opinion piece rather than any news story, in which case you could defend those comments as long as they are provably true (which it may be), your honest opinion (which it would be on a message board), recognisable as comment, and in the public interest, which it would be as he is a public figure... and you'd probably just about be able to get away with it if you could prove it is true.
I'd be very surprised if he did even think about sueing for libel as it would seem very petty to do so, but if there's any indication that he is even thinking about doing so, them the best thing to do would be to remove all the comments as soon as possible.
(Sorry for the lecture on media law regarding defamation - it's no good having all this knowledge on it if you never get to properly explain it!!!)
As pointed out on the GBtennisgirls website this morning the contributer who made the initial comments was trying to highlite the double standards between the people who are in control of the money at the LTA and the people that rely on the funding ie the players. He may have a fair point .I'm guessing the kids he mentioned that were singled out are still struggling financially and therefore still held back in their tennis whereas the LTA executives mentioned have received large bonuses despite their indiscretions. Is there a whiff of scandal in the air?
Reminds of the Football Association debacle in 2004. Mark Palios joining the F.A. with the promise of cleaning up the game but having to resign over his liason with Faria Alam! Strange how this made sensational national headlines while nothing has been mentioned of the same problems in tennis?