Belgium forward Michy Batshuayi (23) celebrates after scoring against Canada during the first half of a World Cup group F soccer match between Belgium and Canada at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Belgium forward Michy Batshuayi (23) celebrates after scoring against Canada during the first half of a World Cup group F soccer match between Belgium and Canada at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
OPINION:
The protestors never asked permission from New Zealand Rugby to flour bomb the park during the Springbok Tour.
Tommie Smith and John Carlos did not get the ‘all clear’ from the Olympic committee for their Human Rights salute. We know for a fact the NFL did not sign offon Colin Kaepernick taking a knee. And that Kathrine Switzer purposely went against the wishes of organisers to be the first woman to run the Boston Marathon. So why did a group of football captains require an endorsement from FIFA in order to wear their armbands?
Protests by their definition are an objection to actions taken. To want to be seen to act, without any risk of consequence, is very on brand for the whole series of events that has brought us to a Men’s Football World Cup being held in one of the most unsuitable of places. The sports attempts at rainbow washing quickly washed away when it came time to back the statements up.
Choosing to turn a blind eye made very visible the disregard of workers and women’s rights. The collective opting out of conversation of various people and their platforms shows just how far we still have to go.
The statement that sports and politics don’t mix is the rejoinder of those whose participation has always been assured. Whose identity has never been politicised. I cannot opt-out of having been assigned female at birth, I cannot opt-out of being a lesbian and I cannot opt-out of being let down by all of you. Cry into your non-alcoholic beer, you cowards. Yes, I am mad. How can you not be when just this week someone killed people like me in a queer bar in the USA? When women around the world still have people trying to police their existence. When workers died building the stadiums you are now watching.
England's Harry Kane gestures wearing a black armband with a sign "No discrimination" during World Cup group B soccer match between England and Iran at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, Monday, Nov. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
We all have to determine our own lines in the sand of what we each are willing to tolerate. But what we permit, we accept. So many of you need to accept now that others will feel less safe around you. That when it came down to it, you were happy to kick on rather than kick off. It’s just a game and you’re playing with people’s lives. How flimsy our progress is when we will sell it out to watch a few men kick a ball around a pitch.
This is not a uniquely football problem, it’s just that right now football is in the spotlight. All sports need to reckon with the power they hold in our societies. They are quick to speak of it when recruiting our young people or pointing to the actions of exceptional athletes but shy away from their own responsibilities. They trade on social capital but rarely spend any when it counts. We, the general public, do not get voting rights in their boardrooms but we are not powerless. Our power comes from turning away, turning off or pulling on the armband without fear.
Do you remember who won the 1981 Springbok Tour? Or do you remember the message it sent about racism? What we told the world New Zealand was willing to accept.
Acceptance is all we really want from our sporting community. To be welcomed in regardless of how we may stand out. For this reason, I for one, am opting out of the Men’s Football World Cup.
