Bullshit politics in GPC Israel- the ugly truth(disturbing vids)

[David_G]

A buddy of mine who's involved in the local PL scene in Israel sent me these videos and kindly asked me to share them so here I am, chipping in my 2 cents to the PL gods.

Basically he says that a group of individuals under an organization called GPC abuse the sport over here in the most non sportive kind of way:
-Judges look for signals from meet organizers on whether to signal a good/bad lift(so perfectly good lifts are sometimes judged bad and vice versa)
-People get red/white lights based on their personal agendas/opinions in the small community
-Competitors get 3 white lights even if they are lifting in un-certified gear(for example deadlifting in socks as seen in the vids) according to the rule book of the organization
-Judges are not qualified/know what the fuck they are doing

Here are the vids, spread the word and say no to poor ass politics who ruin the sport I love:-------- If you don't care about the politics just go to the Videos(start at 1:21)

[Kyle Schuant]

And to think that GPC was started to get away from the bullshit politics of IPF...

[David_G]

Any federation who does not judge every competitor based seldom on his performance should not exist, if my post would bring some kind of justice then i've pulled my weight here.
This is 2013(4 almost) and to see the sport handled like a circus with political BS just pisses me off to be honest.

Everyone should be judged equally...

[G1981C]

The people who have been unfairly treated should either form an alternative PL league in Israel or move to another country. By staying within the organization you continue to support it. Boycott.

[David_G]

There is already an alternative PL league forming over here...

[Kyle Schuant]

I'm not sure whether having yet another federation with at most 20-100 national members and more medals than competitors really helps things...

[Les Hahn]

I'm not sure whether having yet another federation with at most 20-100 national members and more medals than competitors really helps things...

It doesn't help for competition at the meet itself, but I would rather have a bunch of smaller, high quality feds than a few crappier big ones. If you want to see how you stack up, go to powerliftingwatch and check the top 50 or 100 by weight class. I think because the feds are fragmented, a lot of people just care about the numbers there, not being a "world record" holder in a smaller fed. And if you have vids of your lifts in competition, people can see if they are legit or not.

[Kyle Schuant]

It doesn't help for competition at the meet itself, but I would rather have a bunch of smaller, high quality feds than a few crappier big ones.

In what way does larger feds breaking up into smaller feds lead to higher quality? Again, remember that GPC was founded by people dissatisfied with IPF... And then in GPC Australia, the standard of judging is pretty good, while obviously in GPC Israel it's not. So is it really GPC, or something else going on?

[Les Hahn]

In what way does larger feds breaking up into smaller feds lead to higher quality? Again, remember that GPC was founded by people dissatisfied with IPF... And then in GPC Australia, the standard of judging is pretty good, while obviously in GPC Israel it's not. So is it really GPC, or something else going on?

I've heard from other people that they have issues in some other countries as well. It doesn't mean that the new fed will be higher quality (in some cases they are worse), but I am saying that I don't have an issue competing in a smaller, legit fed. Yes I will get the trophy, which doesn't matter, but I still can figure out where I stack up against others in my weight class across the board with PLwatch.

[Kyle Schuant]

The comparisons become harder because everyone who starts a new fed has some different rules.

What are the weight categories? These are already different in IPF and GPC, let alone all the others.
2 hour weigh-in or 24?
Wraps or no wraps? If wraps how long can they be?
Monolift or walkout on squats?
Feet flat on the floor for bench like IPF, or just some part of the foot like GPC?
New weigh-in after a record is set?
Drug-tested or not?
How about separate junior and masters records? Which age categories are being used?
And then there are a stack of minor issues of judging which while not written in the rules will be a trend across this fed since in a group of just 20-100 people, there's going to be 1-2 who basically drive all the decisions. Like how much below parallel on squats? And paused bar or stationary bar on bench?

PLWatch does an amazing job, but the comparisons aren't as easy as they seem. Sure, if the record is 100kg above you then apart from stratospheric squats then all this stuff becomes pretty irrelevant, but how about when there's just 10 or 15kg in it? The greater the number of federations and rules variants, the harder it becomes to compare. Which is why so many "world records" are claimed in lifts, especially squats.