Politics and sports

In regards to the politics of space and soccer in Europe, soccer has been historically able to simultaneously maintain the differences that give each European country their own sense of identity as well as strengthen the bonds that bind them together as one body.[3] Further, soccer stadiums in Europe have acted as both places of refuge as well as sites of terrorist attacks and political uprisings. According to Benoit, during the period of the Second World War, European Football underwent a massive transformation. With a coinciding sharp rise in popularity at a time of high political intensity, soccer became politicized. Therefore, Benoit argues that soccer began to embody three main characteristics during and after this period, becoming: 1) an agent of international relations in the sense that the foreign policies of European nations became supposedly articulated in soccer; 2) a source of political propaganda via using soccer to expose the state; 3) a tool to pacify constituents.[4] Consequently, all of these factors have contributed to the emergence of soccer and its stadiums as a means of political expression, a basis of recent collective memory, and its emergence as a highly politicized game.

While many clubs don't have a fixed political identity, some clubs are known to have clear leanings. According to YouGov statistics, supporters of the English club Sunderland AFC predominantly lean to the political left,[5] and often sing "The Red Flag" during games.[6]

While Sunderland fans are generally regarded as left wing,[5] the hooligan firm Seaburn Casuals was known for having far-right associations. When 26 Seaburn Casuals hooligans were arrested in a police raid before the 1998 FIFA World Cup, some of them were found to be involved with neo-Nazi groups like Combat 18.[7]

One of the biggest and oldest football rivalries is the Old Firm rivalry between the Scottish clubs Celtic and Rangers from Glasgow. The competition between the two clubs had roots in more than just a simple sporting rivalry.[8] It has as much to do with Northern Ireland as Scotland and this can be seen in the flags, cultural symbols, and emblems of both clubs.[9] It was infused with a series of complex disputes, sometimes centred on religion (Catholic and Protestant), Northern Ireland-related politics (Loyalist and Republican), national identity (British or Irish Scots), and social ideology (Conservatism and Socialism).[10] The majority of Rangers and Celtic supporters do not get involved in sectarianism, but serious incidents do occur with a tendency for the actions of a minority to dominate the headlines.[11][9] The Old Firm rivalry fuelled many assaults on Derby days, and some deaths in the past have been directly related to the aftermath of Old Firm matches.[12] An activist group that monitors sectarian activity in Glasgow has reported that on Old Firm weekends, violent attacks increase ninefold over normal levels.[13] An increase in domestic abuse can also be attributed to Old Firm fixtures.[14]

Norway declined to take part in the 1957 Bandy World Championship because the Soviet Union was invited, due to the Soviet invasion of Hungary the year before. The country made a similar protest for the 1969 Bandy World Championship because of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia that year, handing over the hosting of the 1969 event to Sweden.

Ukraine declined to take part in the 2015 Bandy World Championship hosted by Russia because of the Russian annexation of Crimea the year before, since Ukraine still considers Crimea as part of its territory.

Heavyweight champion Max Schmeling had been lauded by the Nazi Party as a heroic symbol of German destiny and Aryan supremacy. A politically charged boxing match with Joe Louis was preceded nationalistic symbolism and imagery. Schmeling defeated Louis, for the latter's first professional defeat in 1936. Langston Hughes recalled the national reaction to Louis' defeat.

I walked down Seventh Avenue and saw grown men weeping like children, and women sitting in the curbs with their head in their hands. All across the country that night when the news came out that Joe was knocked out, people cried. – Langston Hughes[15]

Schmeling was, however, welcomed home with a jubilant reaction. Hitler sent his wife flowers with the message: "For the wonderful victory of your husband, our greatest German boxer, I must congratulate you with all my heart." Schmeling responded to the accolades saying: "At this moment I have to tell Germany, I have to report to the Führer in particular, that the thoughts of all my countrymen were with me in this fight; that the Führer and his faithful people were thinking of me. This thought gave me the strength to succeed in this fight. It gave me the courage and the endurance to win this victory for Germany's colours."[16]

A rematch was scheduled later in New York City. In the build-up to the event U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt offered his support: "Joe, we need muscles like yours to beat Germany." Schmeling's hotel was picketed by American protestors after an accompanying Nazi Party publicist declared that a black man could not defeat Schmeling and that when he won, his prize money would be used to build German tanks.[17] Louis won the rematch in a first round knock out and he became the focal point of anti-Nazi sentiment leading up to World War II. Louis later recalled the pressure on him before the fight: "I knew I had to get Schmeling good. I had my own personal reasons and the whole damned country was depending me."[16]

Decades later, Muhammad Ali took up political causes in his refusal to be drafted for the Vietnam War amid the Civil Rights Movement during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.

After earning the championship, Clay converted his religion to Islam, which instigated conflict with his boxing career. He also abandoned his name that was given to his slave ancestors and adopted Muhammad Ali. On April 28, 1967, he refused to serve in the Army during the Vietnam War, stating religious reasons that it goes against the Qur'an's teaching.

I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong...no Vietcong ever called me nigger. – Muhammad Ali

He then became an icon of not only the civil rights struggle, but also the anti-Vietnam War movement. However he was convicted of draft evasion, sentenced to five years in prison, fined $10,000 and stripped of his championship. It was not until a lawsuit in 1970 that Ali redeemed his title. He would continue in historical boxing matches now known as Rumble in the Jungle in 1974 and Thrilla in Manila in 1975, defeating George Foreman and Joe Frazier, respectively.[18]

Chess, which is a recognized sport of the International Olympic Committee, has a history of being linked to political issues. World Chammpion Alexander Alekhine[19] collaborated with National-Socialist Germany during the Second World War. Cold War politics featured in the 1972 World Championship match between the American Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, when Fischer defeated Spassky and temporarily halted Soviet chess dominance;[20] and again in the 1978 World Championship match, when the Soviet Anatoly Karpov narrowly defeated Viktor Korchnoi, who had recently defected from the Soviet Union. Several countries boycotted the 1976 Chess Olympiad, because it was held in Israel.

In 1969, the Marylebone Cricket Club refused to allow Basil D'Oliveira to play for England against South Africa for fear of upsetting the apartheid regime. D'Oliveira was a coloured born in South Africa and refused permission to play for the South African team by the government, instead he played for England. Following his performance against Australia in the previous year's Ashes, D'Oliveria was one of the most likely players to be selected. However, he was not selected; it was suspected at the time that this was capitulation towards the apartheid regime.

Cricket has also had a hand to play in sporting diplomacy. Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and Soviet pressure on India to deflect the tension they faced, in 1987 Pakistan's president at the time, General Zia ul-Haq, attended a test match between India and Pakistan in Jaipur – a visit that apparently helped cool a flare-up in tensions. Furthermore, following a fifteen-year lull in test matches, cricket tours between India and Pakistan were revived in 2004 in the wake of diplomatic initiatives to bury half a century of mutual hostility. Both sides relaxed their tough visa regulations for each other, allowing thousands of fans to travel across the border.[21]

In an attempt to replicate the cricket diplomacy of the past General Pervez Musharraf came to India in 2005 ostensibly for a cricket match. The trip, however, quickly took on the air of a summit as the sides were urged "to seize a historic chance to end their dispute over Kashmir."[22][23] Often this rivalry has been tinged with a religious-political bent to it. A Pakistani fan in Karachi ran onto the pitch to attack the Indian captain, and fans threw stones at the Indian players during the match in Karachi. In 2000 right-wing Hindus dug up the cricket pitch in New Delhi to protest against the Pakistani team's visit.[24] Following the Kargil conflict, and at various other times, there have also been calls to suspend cricketing ties between the two countries.[1]

In reference to immigrants from the Caribbean and South Asia, British Conservative party member Norman Tebbit once a "cricket test" could adjudge a persons loyalty to England by determining whether or not they supported the England and Wales cricket team ahead of those from their own countries of origin.

In 2008, the England and Wales Cricket Board cancelled Zimbabwe's 2009 tour of England and suspended all bilateral relations between the two states in response to the situation regarding the 2008 Zimbabwean presidential election.[25] MPs Jack Straw and Tessa Jowell wrote to the International Cricket Council asking then to ban Zimbabwe from international cricket.[26]

China have also gotten in on the cricket diplomacy act. Cross-Strait relations have once again been the impetus for doing so. During the buildup to the 2007 World Cup, Antigua received a $55 million grant to build the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, while Jamaica received $30 million for a new Trelawny stadium. St. Lucia have also got both a cricket and a football stadium courtesy of China. China spent a remarkable $132 million on cricket facilities in the West Indies over the past few years, a massive amount compared to the International Cricket Council's paltry 10-year budget of $70 million to promote cricket globally. It is said that the motive for China's generosity is because "Most of the remaining countries that recognize Taiwan are located in the Caribbean and Latin America." The diplomacy paid off in the end as Grenada and Dominica derecognized Taiwan as an independent country. Further, "Of the remaining 24 countries that recognize Taiwan, four are in the Caribbean and two of these play cricket." Grenada previously had a stadium built by Taiwan, but saw it flattened by a hurricane. To join the action, China quickly came in to erect another stadium. Consequently, Taiwan took Grenada to a New York City court to force the latter to return the original loan.

Put on the back foot, a beleaguered Taiwan also used the World Cup to shore up its position among its shrinking West Indian support base. It doled out $21 million to St. Kitts and Nevis and $12 million to the even smaller St. Vincent and the Grenadines for cricket grounds. China's aggressive ambitions have benefited the Caribbean Islands as "Strategic analysts say China is laying out more money than is needed to just isolate Taiwan. China, which has built large embassies in each of the islands, now has a bigger diplomatic presence in the Caribbean than the United States, the superpower next door." And that "Mainland China's long-term strategy coincides with its foreign policy."[27]

Following the death of Saeed Anwar's daughter he took to a more fundamental Islam and started growing a beard. He was then said to have been the turning point in the Islamisation of the Pakistani cricket team,[28] which was also a reason for Yousuf Youhana's conversion to Islam.[29] From the 2003 World Cup a more visible trend of religion was seen in the Pakistan team with many players having become more devout to the point of either leading prayers or growing beards as a symbol of being a "good Muslim" (with the notable exception of Shoaib Akhtar and Danish Kaneria (the latter being the only Hindu on the team)).[30] Even post-match interviews were preceded by Islamic salutations such as Bismillah ur Rehman rahim.[28] Most famously, after the loss to arch-rival India at the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 Shoaib Malik came under fire for apologising "I want to thank everyone back home in Pakistan and Muslims all over the world. Thank you very much and I’m sorry that we didn’t win, but we did give our 100 per cent" for the defeat, which was particularly ironic considering Irfan Pathan, a Muslim was named Man of the Match for his performance in India's win,[31] and Shah Rukh Khan was in the stands cheering on India.[32] Following the 2007 World Cup and the loss to Ireland (an unranked cricket team), the religious influence was criticised for taking a toll on the team. The Islamisation of such a Western sport in Pakistan was seen as symbolic of the growing influence of religion in every field.[33] In Pakistan, this trend was attributed to dating back to the tenure of the military government of General Zia-ul Haq where the focus of the youth was shifted from Pakistan as a nation-state and cultural-religious pluralism to Islam as a transnational identity, greater attention to conservative Islamic ritualism, and a perception of a global conspiracy against Muslims and admiration for militancy. A need was also seen to reorient sportsmen towards professionalism, discipline and rules and regulations. It was said that the focus of education and socialisation needed to return to a Pakistan that could not afford to be at war.[34]

In 2011, India and Pakistan played each other in the 2011 Cricket World Cup for the first time since 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and a general souring of relations. The event was spontaneously attended by Prime Ministers Yousaf Raza Gillani of Pakistan and Manmohan Singh of India. Following the game, permission was granted for the two countries to play regular series against each other.

Going as far back as the 1936 Olympics, Adolf Hitler used this as a stage to promote Aryan nationalism for Germany with his ideological belief of racial supremacy.[40] The Olympics were used as a method of hardening the German spirit and instilling unity among German youth. It was also believed that sport was a "way to weed out the weak, Jewish, and other undesirables."[41] As a result, many Jews and Gypsies were banned from participating in sporting events. While Germany did top the medal table, the Nazi depiction of ethnic Africans as inferior was dispelled by Jesse Owens' gold medals in the 100m, 200m, 4 × 100 m relay and long jump events.[42] There were questions as to whether Hitler acknowledged Owens' victories. On the first day of competition, Hitler left the stadium after only shaking hands with the German victors. An Olympic committee member then insisted that Hitler either greet every medalist or none at all; he chose the latter.[43] At the games he was visited by Adi Dassler, the founder of Adidas, who offered new shoes to Owens.[44]

Jesse Owens on the podium after winning the long jump at the 1936 Summer Olympics. L-R, on podium, Naoto Tajima, Owens, Luz Long.

Hitler had a certain time to come to the stadium and a certain time to leave. It happened he had to leave before the victory ceremony after the 100 meters. But before he left I was on my way to a broadcast and passed near his box. He waved at me and I waved back. I think it was bad taste to criticise the 'man of the hour' – Jesse Owens[45]

Once again, in 1968, the global stage of the Olympics was used to show the world the plight of the African-American struggle during the civil rights movement in their home country. The famous Black Power salute was performed by Tommie Smith and John Carlos during the medal ceremony in Mexico City. Věra Čáslavská, in protest to the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia and the controversial decision by the judges on the Balance Beam and Floor, turned her head down and away from the Soviet flag whilst the anthem played during the medal ceremony. She returned home as a heroine of the Czechoslovak people, but was made an outcast by the Soviet dominated government.

In 1972, several athletes of the Israeli Olympic team were killed in an attack by Palestinian gunmen of the Black September terrorist organization that started at the Olympic village and eventually resulted in the deaths of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team.

The 1980 winter Olympics were used in a much less overtly political way, but in a much more culturally politically significant way. The United States men's Ice Hockey team defeated the USSR National team in the semi final round. This win by the United States team was much more than just an Olympic game, the Soviets had been superior on the ice against everyone and had recently beaten the NHL All Star team.[46] The US Olympic team was all amateurs with an average age of 21,[47] while the Soviets were quasi-professional. The shocking victory in Lake Placid, during one of the heights of the Cold War brought about renewed nationalism and belief among the citizens of the United States and shock and shame to the Soviets.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan led to a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics by a numerous Western states and their allies in protest of Russian actions. In the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics the Soviet Bloc led a retaliatory boycott of the games in response to the American-led Moscow games boycott.

Following the cancellation of wrestling at the Olympics in the 2010s, traditional political rivals Iran, Russia and the United States joined forces to annul the measure. The U.S. hosted a publicity event in New York City with athletes from all three countries to campaign for its reinstatement.[48]

In the 1970s an exchange of table tennis players from the United States and the People's Republic of China led to a thaw in Sino-American relations that eventually led to U.S. President Richard Nixon's rapprochement with China. It all began when the Chinese table tennis team invited their U.S. counterparts to their country on an all-expense-paid trip during the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships in Japan. Time magazine termed it: "The ping heard ‘round the world.'" On April 10, 1971, the team, and accompanying journalists, became the first U.S. sports delegation to enter and break the information blockade since 1949. Although the U.S. team was defeated by their hosts, in return to Premier Chou En-lai's invitation to more U.S. journalists, the United States government announced that it would lift its 20-year embargo on trade with China. A reporter for Time noted that table tennis was "an apt metaphor for the relations between Washington and Peking" and that both state motioned a willingness to adapt to the new initiative. However, it was not until July 15, that Nixon would finally be the first U.S. president to pay a visit to China. Thirty-six years later, a three-day "Ping-Ping Diplomacy" event was held at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum during the week of June 9, 2008. The original members of the U.S. and Chinese teams from 1971 were present to participate at the event.[49]

In 2008, Israeli professional tennis players Shahar Pe'er, Tzipi Obziler, Andy Ram, and Yoni Erlich were supposed to feature in ATP and WTA tournaments in the Arab cities of Doha and Dubai, respectively, despite bans on Israeli passport holders from entering both countries.[50] Pe'er was refused a visa to Dubai the following year following the Gaza War with the organisers saying "We do not wish to politicise sport but we have to be sensitive to recent events in the whole region and not alienate or put at risk the players or the many tennis fans of different nationalities that we have in the United Arab Emirates." The WTA chief executive Larry Scott later reacted saying some "sanctions" would be issued on Dubai. She also faced protests following the war during a tournament in New Zealand.[51]

During the 2010 US Open tennis tournament India's Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi reached the men's doubles finals, eliciting responses from political leaders in both countries. Supporters from both countries, including the respective United Nations ambassadors, sat in the stands together. Rashid Malik, Pakistan's Davis Cup coach, said "The success of their team so far has been a big encouragement for both countries, it will only have a peaceful and positive impact on their people." Manohar Singh Gill, India's sports minister, asked "I have one question for everyone. If Bopanna and Qureshi can play together, why cannot India and Pakistan?"

The two were also involved in another campaign promoted by the Monaco-based Peace and Sport when they wore sweat shirts with slogans reading "Stop War, Start Tennis." They refer to themselves as the "Indo-Pak Express." Such a high-profile collaboration meant this was read as a "unique" partnership. Qureshi said "It just feels like us doing well on the bigger level is getting the message across throughout the world – if me and Rohan can get along so well there's no reason the Indians and Pakistanis can't get along with each other. If even two or three per cent of people say, 'If they can get along why can't we?' that's what we're trying to do. "They're all mixed together sitting in the crowd. You can't tell who is Pakistani and who is Indian. That's the beauty about sports. Before our pairing you would never see that in any sports, fighting for one cause. It's really good to be part of it."[52]

After their finals defeat, Qureshi spoke to the crowd to "say something on behalf of all Pakistanis, [that] every time I come here, there's a wrong perception about the people of Pakistan. They are very friendly, very loving people. We want peace in this world as much as you guys." He then made a political appeal to the controversial "Ground Zero mosque" saying "For me, as a Muslim, that's what makes America the greatest country in the world – freedom of religion, freedom of speech. If the mosque is built, I think it's a huge gesture to all the Muslim community out there in the world. I would really appreciate it." Indian and Pakistani fans filled the stadium for the final as the two U.N. ambassadors again sat together in the President's Box. Pakistan's ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon said "They've proven that when Indians and Pakistanis get together we can raise fire. I think on a people-to-people basis, they're setting an example that the politicians should follow."[53]

Films

• Invictus
• Escape to Victory
• Egaro
• Lagaan
• Ali

• Stick to sports

• Sports as cultural diplomacy
• International Convention Against Apartheid in Sports
• Sports Dictionary. Some words about Sports Diplomacy
• When sports and politics collide