Hach, wouldn’t that be great if sport and politics were really strictly separated from each other? What if the International Olympic Committee (IOC) could consistently punish the Russian system dopers without political pressure? What if associations like in football, handball, and athletics didn’t keep awarding World Cups to Qatar, where the 2032 Olympics could now also take place? What if the American military didn’t spend millions of dollars putting on patriotic pomp shows before professional football matches?
“Don’t mix sports with politics” is a basic rule of the IOC, and it is always used when the powerful in both areas do not want to mix it up. So when the football player Colin Kaepernick kneels during the pomp show to protest against police violence, the US President Donald Trump calls him a “son of a bitch”. When Bundesliga soccer players demonstrate against racism on T-shirts, the German association DFB first investigates. When the American basketball player LeBron James comments on social debates, a presenter tells him: “Shut up and dribble” – shut up and dribble! Athletes should deliver a spectacle and otherwise be obediently quiet. It should be pictures without background noise.
The string pullers in professional sport are masters at mixing their disciplines with politics, as long as it serves to improve the image and increase income; In return, politicians are allowed to bask in the splendor of the beautiful images that sport produces. However, when it comes to assuming social responsibility and taking a position, sport likes to point out that it does not want to be political. There might be a minute’s silence between a pomp show and a sporting spectacle, but that’s usually about it. Just don’t upset anyone; any fan who turns away from secular opium for the people means less revenue.
But: if you want to please everyone, at some point you won’t like any more. Whoever never takes a stand becomes arbitrary and meaningless.
It is therefore historical what happened in American sport on Wednesday. First, the NBA basketball league canceled all three playoff games scheduled for the day; it was followed by the women’s league WNBA with all three games. The MLB (baseball) postponed three games, the MLS (soccer) even five. At the tennis tournament in New York, all matches scheduled for Thursday have been postponed. It is a clear sign from sport that politically it cannot go on in this country.
It is no longer individual athletes who protest, but clubs, leagues, professional organizations. Whether you like this attitude or not, it puts an end to the fairy tale that sport and politics are separate because they are not. Athletes deliver a spectacle, but they also have voices that are heard millions of times. It is high time that associations such as the IOC or the world football association Fifa realized that they can no longer send pictures without sound.
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