Should sport and politics mix?
Prior to the beginning of the new Formula 1 season, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner stated that “F1 is not a political sport and it shouldn’t be used politically”. Christian Horner is wrong, and the idea that sport is not political is out of touch with reality.
Sport is escapism. This is why we love it. It’s the idea that you can sit down in your favourite spot on the sofa, put your feet up and become engrossed at the world class levels your favourite sports are played at. You become so engrossed that all of life’s worries are forgotten about, whether that be for 90 minutes, 72 laps or 18 holes.
The general belief is that politics and sports should not mix. Somehow, the idea that sport is a phenomenon separated from politics and society has developed. This has largely been peddled by people who use sport for their own political or societal gain.
The most recent example comes from the wonderful sporting utopia of Formula One, the sporting organisation that has expanded its influence in countries with some of the worst human rights records in the world – Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar just to name a few.
The suits at Formula One introduced a ban on drivers displaying political or religious statements ‘without prior approval’ for the new season that began this weekend. This ban is an attempt by the governing body to clamp down on drivers’ freedoms of expression, to use their position as world-renowned athletes to push for change in the world.
Despite the ban, Lewis Hamilton continued to wear his rainbow themed helmet in the opening race in Bahrain, a country in which is illegal for homosexuals to marry. Hamilton has yet to be sanctioned for his display.
It is the latest addition of, the more than likely, white men in suits at a board table pretending that sports and politics aren’t inherently linked.
Ultimately, sports and politics have and will always be linked. Sport does not live in a vacuum, detached from the rest of the world. In fact, sports are inherently connected to the social and political contexts of their time. The sports themselves are shaped by this, and in return they help shape society.
Look at the countless examples from the past century. The origins of both Rugby Union and Rugby league were based primarily through the origins of class in England. The rivalry between Celtic and Rangers in Scotland is rooted in sectarianism and tribalism around Irish nationalism. The raised black-gloved fists of Tommie Lee and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics will remain one of the most iconic single moments in sport.
Sport is joined at the hip with nationalism, one of the most powerful tools in a politician’s arsenal. The Olympics medal table does not have individual athletes’ names on it, but rather a number of medals beside a nation’s flag.
Sport can be used as a vehicle to drive a country’s nationalist machine, as shown so blatantly at the 1936 Olympics. A more recent example were the 1980 in Moscow and the following 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, where political point scoring and parades of national strength played out at the height of the cold war.
Part of the reason politics and sport will always be entrancingly linked is it’s now increasing use by politicians themselves. Sport has become a prop for the political elite to improve their self-image. The 2022 Qatar World Cup has been the most high-profile example thus far, and Formula One is contradicting itself by adding races in countries with the financial power to draw in these events for their own PR development rather than actually addressing social and political issues with their own people.
Christian Horner’s support of banning political statements by drivers are sanctimonious. These comments came 3 years after Horner welcomed then Prime Minister Boris Johnson to the Red Bull headquarters in Milton Keynes for a photo opportunity on his campaign trail.
The hypocrisy is glaring. Sports will always be linked with politics while politicians use it as a prop. The fact that those in power are trying to limit the freedoms of the sports stars, the very people who make their sports successful, should be a concern for athletes in any sport.
Athletes, now more than ever, have a platform to be spokespeople for issues around the world, and Williams driver Alex Albon expressed he feels it is a responsibility for sports stars like himself to “make people aware of these kind of situations”.
Trying to separate sport from politics is putting the purity of sport at risk. Like any other facet of life, sport is deeply political. There was little uproar when the sporting world reacted swiftly to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, kicking them out of the International Olympic Committee and FIFA World Cup Qualifying. Where is the faux outrage for these actions from the ‘no politics in sport’ brigade, or are they too focused on footballers taking a knee?
The title of this article gives the impression that we have a choice of whether sport and politics mix. Ultimately, sport always has been and will be political, whether those in charge like it or not. Instead of attempting the impossible task of separating sport and politics, we should instead focus on harnessing political acts in sport for the greater good. If we do not, sport risks lagging behind a rapidly changing society, arguably faster than we have ever seen.
