Newswise: Through boycotts and protests, athletes and sports teams have regularly exploited the Olympics and other sporting events to make political comments. In light of the upcoming Paris Olympics, which begin this month, and the ongoing UEFA European Football Championship (Euro 2024), scholars are pondering if sports might serve as a forum for advocating for social justice problems.
Similar to the 2024 Euro football competition, the Paris Olympics in 2024 will be viewed by billions of people and garner international media attention. As athletes enter their arenas, there is no indication that the global hostilities will end soon.
According to a recent poll conducted by the Universities of South Australia, Aston University, and Teesside University in the UK, 80% of sports fans are against the Euro 2024 tournament being used as a political platform for the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
Most supporters don’t think social and political events should be used as a weapon during Euro 2024, according to Dr. Jamie Cleland, senior lecturer in sport and management at UniSA. This is true even though respondents to the study generally acknowledged that in the past, sports had led to changes in international politics.
Despite the massive audience for the event, eight out of ten supporters oppose the idea that football should be used to attempt and create peace in Gaza, Ukraine, or anywhere else. The majority of sports fans, according to our research, believe that football may be a powerful platform for social and political causes; they only hope it doesn’t happen during Euro 2024, the author adds.
“People think politics doesn’t belong in sports, which is ironic considering three quarters of the people who participated in our study agreed that UEFA should ban Russia from international football.”
Athletes using athletic venues as political platforms is nothing new, according to Dr. Cleland. Olympic protests began in 1906 when English track and field athlete Peter O’Connor scaled the Olympic flagpole while wearing an Irish flag to express his disapproval of being viewed as a British competitor.
Many well-known players from a variety of sports have expressed in more recent times that they hope to utilise sport as a catalyst for change. Sports celebrities from the NBA (National Basketball Association) to the English Premier League have spoken out on the subject in the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020 and the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement that followed.
As a gesture of support with Iranian demonstrators, the Iranian football squad boycotted to perform the national anthem prior to their World Cup match against England in 2022. The 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died while in the custody of the Iranian police, and her silence was a potent act of disobedience against the Iranian government.
Despite a restriction on flags from non-participating nations, pro-Palestinian displays in the stands during the Euro 2024 competition have already increased dramatically. Along the way to games, activists have also been seen, giving spectators hats as a sign of pro-Palestinian solidarity.
While political and social justice activists have profited from sporting events, sports fans are less accepting of activism spearheaded by sponsors or athletic officials.
Dr. Cleland argues that while many individuals think football regulatory bodies are dishonest and immoral, cynicism among supporters shouldn’t be mistaken for indifference.
“Opportunism displayed by some sporting corporations irritates sports fans because, while protesting is good for business, it’s not really doing anything. Commercial expediency is the foundation of their position, he claims.
One survey taker characterised certain acts of advocacy during athletic events as more performative than practical.
“Does wearing rainbow-colored laces transform the environment to allow gay athletes to come out? It might make a few football players feel good about themselves for a game,” they questioned. If so, why does anyone believe that making a gesture at the European Championship will convince Israel to cease its attacks on Gaza, convince Hamas to free its captives, or convince Putin to remove his forces from Ukraine?
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