Moscow Dynamo Football Essay Example for Free

Moscow Dynamo Football Essay Many people would argue that sport helps bring people together and helps overcome divisions of race, nationality, class and religion. The Soviets drew upon this ideal in 1984 when they called the Moscow games, the friendship games. As well as bringing people together, sport can just as easily raise political consciousness and force people apart. The collective passion for Barcelona F.C is interlocked with politics, as is the connection between sport and nationalism in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Supporting this view, George Orwell comments on the visit of the Moscow Dynamo Football team to Britain in 1945, sport is an unfailing cause of ill-will andif such a visit has had any affect on Anglo-Soviet relations, it could only be to make them slightly worse than before. (Atyeo, 1979, P.372) Governments have been known to use major sporting events to try and divert the attention of the masses away from certain political and social problems that country might be encountering as well as trying to improve their national image. For example, in the nine months leading up to the Moscow Olympics, drunks, hooligans and dissidents were rounded up and headed out of Moscow to try to prevent any sort of dissent, which could mar their public relations. Certain groups use the prominence of sport, which has been increased in recent years thanks to sport becoming a global television spectacle, to make a political point. In most cases, the choice of sport to make the political point is arbitrary, as it is the prominence of the sport in the public eye which is the critical factor. The 1972 Munich Olympics saw the killing of 10 Israeli athletes by eight armed Palestinian gunman, and the 1968 Mexico Olympics saw a protest by the student movement about the cost of hosting the games, which was a huge financial burden on the poor country, result in the army opening fire on the demonstration, killing 260 and injuring 1,000. Although politics does not only cite sport when dissidents intervene. There are a number of groups and individuals that have used sport and its prominent position in the public eye to raise political consciousness about what may be happening in that country. For example, the 2003 cricket world cup saw the wearing of a black armband by two of Zimbabwes players in protest against the Mugabe regime. The two players, Henry Olonga, the first black man to play for his country, and Andy Flower, in most cricket fans opinion, Zimbabwes greatest ever player, were almost universally praised for their dignified statement about the human rights abuses in their homeland. Ian Chappell, former captain of Australias cricket team and one of the many who applaud Flower and Olonga for their brave stance commented that; you realise when you go through life that there are occasions when you have a louder voice. If theres something youre moved about, thats the time to speak out for those who do not have a louder voice. The World Cup also saw the boycott by England of their opening match in the competition against Zimbabwe, for which they first cited moral, political and security concerns, then changed it to concerns about player safety as the reason for boycotting the game. A decision they might have latter regretted as the points gained for winning that match would have taken them into the super-six stage of the competition and maybe further. Theyre many people who believe that England made the right decision in boycotting this match, but there are also people who did not. David Coltart, who believes that politics has no place in sport, puts forward some arguments for going ahead with the match. He comments, paradoxically, holding the matches in Zimbabwe opens up a tiny piece of democratic space for those fighting tyranny. He also notes if no further matches take place (in Zimbabwe), there will be no further reason for the regime to behave better. Kate Hoey, writing for Sky Sports online, who disagreed with Coltart, argues that the match shouldnt have been played because the message that will be sent out worldwide is that Zimbabwe is a normal functioning country, which is patently untrue. She feels sport and politics must unite against the Mugabe regime and thus the England team needed to pull out of the match to raise worldwide awareness about the human rights abuses dictator Mugabe is undergoing. This view coincides with Ian Chappells view about the need to speak out for those without a louder voice. It is not only the players who sometimes feel the need to tackle political issues, the broad fact is that sports bodies on occasion have to confront inter-state political issues. (Allison, 1983, P.33) This was no more evident when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) excluded South Africa from the Olympic movement, not because of governmental pressure, but because the social and economic system in South Africa does not allow sport to be practiced there in accordance with the IOCs own rules as laid down in the Olympic Charter. The Welsh Hockey associations decision to not send a team to Argentina in 1985 because of the ill feeling that could still have been left over after the Falklands War is another example of a sporting body taking into account political situations before making a decision. There are so many examples of sport being influenced by politics over the years and so much theoretical evidence linking the two to say sport can remain uninfluenced by politics and politicians. Whether or not sport should remain uninfluenced by politics is of much wider debate. Events in Zimbabwe have highlighted many peoples opinions that sport and everyone involved in it has a responsibility to make sure important political issues such as the Mugabe regime are not ignored and that something is done to try and resolve them. But whatever view you may have on whether it is right for sport to get involved with politics, it becomes apparent that sport and politics cannot be mutually isolated (Allison. 1983, P.29) however much the sports enthusiast would wish them to be. Bibliography Books  Allison,L. The Politics of Sport, (Manchester University Press, 1983)  Whannel, G. Blowing the Whistle: The Politics of Sport, (Pluto, 1986)  Houlihan, B. The Government and Politics of Sport, ( Routledge, 1991)  Lapchick, R, E. The Politics and Race of International Sport, (Greenwood Press, 1975)  Voy, R. Drugs, Sport and Politics, (Leisure Press, 1991)  Atyeo, D. Blood, Guts and Violence, (Paddington Press, 1979)