Recently, many Sportsmen and women have been commenting on the current political situation in which United States President Donald Trump has banned the entry of people to the USA from Iran, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia.
Our country needs strong borders and extreme vetting, NOW. Look what is happening all over Europe and, indeed, the world - a horrible mess!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2017
U.S President Donald Trump defends his controversial 'Muslim ban.'
The response to this has been mixed within the realms of Sport, with some fans congratulating some of Sport's most-known names for speaking up against the ban.
Others however haven't been too pleased with this, with one person tweeting to former England Footballer Gary Lineker the following:
@GaryLineker Gary you were a good footballer stick to what you know about because you're talking shit about politics. You're a BBC employee— Gordon Taylor (@gordytaylor58) February 2, 2017
Now, everyone is entitled to their opinion (as long as it's in line with the popular Twitter one right?) but it's interesting that many don't want the line between Politics and Sport to be blurred too much.
It's seems that it needs to happen though.
Look, I'm not saying that we need to have debates on which political party to join on Match of the Day or that we need a political columnist in the back-pages of every newspaper, informing us of how we're all supporting capitalism by attending Sporting events.
The thing is that even before the 'Muslim Ban' sparked a mass of verified Twitter accounts to comment on this huge political decision, politics has crossed over into Sport many a time.
As far back as 1936, at the Summer Olympics in Nazi Germany, Jesse Owens embarrassed Adolf Hitler's ideological claim that black people were inferior in every way when the American won four gold medals (100 and 200 metres, long jump and 4x100 metre relay).
Another example of when politics collided with Sport, funnily enough again in Munich and again at the Summer Olympics (1972), was when Arab group Black September killed all 11 members of Israel's Olympic team in the Olympic village.
The World was shocked to think that an Arab group would go to that extent to express their ideology but unfortunately they were wrong.
A recent of example of politics invading Sport is the ever-growing influence of the Chinese Super League in the Football transfer market.
It's seen Oscar move for over £60 million, Carlos Tevez become the highest-paid Footballer in the World (on £615,000 a week!) and Real Madrid offered a world record bid of €250 million with the 2016 Ballon d'Or winner being offered £80 million a year. How did this all come about? From their President, Xi Jinping.
The leader of the World's largest nation (approximately 1.3 billion) has stated his intent for China to win the World Cup in 15 years, by creating 20,000 training facilities, 70,000 pitches and having around 50 million people planing the beautiful game by 2020.
Another Government that has gotten involved in their country's Sport recently, not to the same extent, is Britain.
MPs are set to question the British Cycling coach Simon Cope over the mystery package that was given to five-time Olympic Gold medal winner Bradley Wiggins, which Wiggins received a day before the 2011 Criterium du Dauphine.
Cope travelled from Manchester to Geneva on 12th June 2011 to hand a parcel to the Team Sky doctor Freeman on the final day of the Criterium and claimed he didn't know what it contained.
It's amazing to think that MPs are questioning a cycling coach over a package that was delivered six years ago after claims of Wiggins doping.
Suppose if you make enough allegations, they will eventually raise some eyebrows.
There are various recent examples of the crossover of politics and Sport, such as Syrian Football under-19's captain Mohammed Jaddou having to flee to Germany due to the civil war between President Asma al-Assad and the rebels (which you can watch below by Copa90) but there is one example that perfectly summaries why politics should matter in Sport.
Just under a week ago, Sean Walsh wrote a blog post of his experience of homophobia at grassroots Football.
I wrote about my experiences last night, and why more needs to be done to help stamp out homophobia in football: https://t.co/aqyTXd76Yn pic.twitter.com/OgJv66tL7u— Sean (@SeanWalsh_97) February 2, 2017
Like with everything on social media, the response was mixed, with some questioning why he wrote it and others supporting his article and his fight for uncovering homophobia.
@SeanWalsh_97 I take offense to people walking their dogs and not picking up the shit but you don't see me writing an article about it.— Leroy Jenkins (@Leroy_Jenk21) February 2, 2017
@SeanWalsh_97 Brilliant article Sean...Glad you're able to channel your negative experience in a positive way. The best way to beat them 👍🏻— Danny Morley (@Morlio18) February 2, 2017
This perfectly illustrates my point in that these topics need to become more prominent in our Sporting discussions if we're to advance not only an as audience but as fans and supporters of whatever Sport we follow.
We will only go backwards if this doesn't materialise.
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