Xtreme Bicycle Racing Blog

After speaking with the ACCC – we sought legal counsel and booked an appointment with a law firm.  They advised us that BMXA/UCI may have breached the Trade Practices Act 1974 and issued a letter advising them to allow the paper to be displayed or the matter may be taken further.

I had an encounter with a UCI representative who, after laughing at the comment that they may be in breach of the trade practices Act, said that I was “being sneaky” by getting the pro shops to distribute my paper.  I tried to make him understand that I was not doing anything different – my paper has always been carried by bike shops – especially all the pro shops that had displays.  He said that what I was doing was just short of “illegal” but did not tell me what part of the law I was short of breaking.  He also told me pretty early in the conversation that I (and I quote) “Earn shit loads of money from my paper” -suffice to say – his comment did not in-press.

If anyone else out there wants to comment on my financial status I suggest that you do some research before making wildly inaccurate comments as they only serve to make you look like a fool.

So at last the papers are back on display with the pro shops at the world championships – where they belong.

NB – UCI/BMXA had a little victory yesterday when Abe Schneider PRESIDENT OF UCI and BOARD MEMBER OF BMXA collected a pile of papers from an unmanned display and disappeared with them… mmmmmmmmm sneaky.

THIS BLOG IS THE PERSONAL BLOG OF GAVIN D ANDREW – EDITOR FOR XBR AND DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF XTREME BICYCLE RACING (THE PUBLICATION).

We had always suspected that BMXA would try something at the world championships as “PAYBACK” for my editorials in the JUNE EDITION of XBR. On Tuesday, 21st JULY during practise – BARRY KNIGHT (PRESIDEINT BMXA) and JOHN LEARY (VICE PRESIDENT BMXA) came to the EVENT TIMING stand and demanded the removal of all XBR papers from the EVENT TIMING display or the display would be closed down. It was pointed out to these BMXA BOARD members that what they were asking was discriminating against EVENT TIMING as almost every PRO SHOP in the venue had the paper on display.  Later that day – I was visited by Johan Lindstrom from UCI on the track who wanted to know what was going on between XBR and BMXA and how we could find a solution – as BMXA wanted both myself and the XBR papers REMOVED FROM THE CHAMPIONSHIPS.

A short while later Johan met with me at the Event Timing Stand and offered a compromise:  I could stay and photograph but all XBR PAPERS WOULD HAVE TO REMOVED FROM THE VENUE.

I pointed out to Johan that this was not a fair solution and may be in breach of a number of Australian laws. After a long discussion – he said that we could keep a small number of  papers on display.  We immediately removed the piles of XBR papers, leaving a small pile that we would top up during the day.

I returned to the track to photograph.
About an hour later I received a call from a PRO SHOP OWNER  telling me that BARRY KNIGHT had come to his stand and ordered the immediate removal of XBR PAPERS from the shop.  I returned to the PRO SHOP AREA and discovered that he had directed all stand holders to remove all XBR papers from their display.  This action contravened the agreement that had recently been reached between XBR and UCI.

Once again I found myself on the phone with the ACCC ( I should really put their number on speed dial) who advised that BMX Australia and UCI may be in breach of a number of Australian Laws.

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