Cycling: Father defends banned sons

Matthew and Jeremy Yates are not expected to appeal against an 18-month ban imposed on them yesterday for what Cycling New Zealand termed persistent immature behaviour.

Their father, Bryan, estimates an appeal would cost his sons a minimum of $3000, and he seriously doubts they are willing to pay that sort of money to overturn the ban.

An independent CNZ tribunal suspended the brothers from all national teams and squads, and from access to sports science and medicine assistance, for the next 18 months.

That ruled the two road riders out of competing in the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in July and August.

The brothers' racing licences were not revoked, meaning they are entitled to continue competing overseas.

Matthew Yates, 21, is now riding in Belgium, and Jeremy, 19, the 2000 junior world road champion, is in Italy competing for the Mapei trade team alongside members of the Australian under-23 squad.

Without going into specifics about their misdemeanours, CNZ general manager Mark Harris said the suspension sent a firm message that the Yates' behaviour was unacceptable and not welcome in the sport.

"I think they're frustrated young men and they haven't learned to control themselves when they're required to in a professional manner," Harris said.

"It's been a series of behavioural problems over the last two-three months and it culminated in one major incident at the Tour of Tasmania.

"CNZ decided it was enough and needed to sort it out one way or another."

The major issue was abuse towards a senior official in Tasmania which resulted in one of the Yates being fined and the other disqualified from the race.

Bryan Yates acknowledged that his sons were known to step over the mark at times in respect to their colourful use of language, but he did not agree that they were immature.

"I don't for a moment condone their swearing and I've tackled them about it on several occasions. It's a bad habit they've got into, probably while they've been overseas," he said in Hastings.

"But to call them immature is laying it on a bit thick.

"They're certainly not at all stuck up and they're certainly not in the prima donna category where they think the world owes them a living."

Bryan Yates also sought to clarify what happened in Tasmania.

"Matthew threw a drink bottle at an Aussie cyclist who he knows well, and there was a bit of swearing going on in the heat of the moment. He was pinged because a spectator, who heard him swearing, complained.

"Jeremy was deliberately ridden off the road by an Australian cyclist who later came up from behind and deliberately, again, crashed into him. He made some fairly strong verbal representations to the officials running the race, such as 'when are you going to get this joker out of here?'

"The officials there were quite happy to have them back, but this is now the end result of that.

"The guy [Australian cyclist] should have been disqualified outright, but that sort of parochialism was going on."

Another incident involved foul and abusive language towards a New Zealand journalist.

"We were disgusted in its [language] contents and put that forward as evidence to the tribunal which they found unacceptable as well," Harris said. "It's probably a bit of a growing-up exercise for them."

Yates accepted that CNZ felt it had to make a stand on the boys' behaviour.

"Cycling New Zealand has drawn a line in the sand and said, 'we are not going to accept behaviour which goes beyond these boundaries.' That's fair enough, no one can quibble with that at all.

"The pity of it is that they perhaps didn't take the boys aside and clearly signal to them that they were overstepping the mark.

"My hope is that Matthew and Jeremy will go on from here and learn from it. They need to be as professional off the bike as they are on it.

"With the benefit of hindsight it could probably have been handled better."

The ban would be reduced to one year if they attended an anger management course within the next six months.

That was not something Bryan Yates expected his sons to accept.

"You could not say that they are out of control," he said. "In the heat of the moment, and when they get a bit frustrated, they can come out with things they shouldn't do. "They know now, with the stance taken by Cycling New Zealand, that they have to pull their finger out and act in an appropriate manner on and off the bike."

The tribunal which made the ruling comprised Wellington barrister Phillip McCabe, NZ Equestrian Federation chief executive Larry Graham, and Cycling NZ life member Barbara Howe.

- NZPA