Sport and Politics
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Modern sports are to a large extent a product of the British/English class system

Rugby was part of an upper-class education system designed to produce the elite managers of the
British Empire

Sport and Politics

Cricket with its five-day matches was the sport par excellence of the aristocracy

The gentlemen/players division was a physical manifestation of this origin

Polo was for those with enough money to afford a horse

Sport and Politics
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Leisurely sports such as golf were for those with significant amounts of leisure time at their disposal
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Even football (the people’s game?) was an alliance between local businessmen and (male) workers

Sport and Politics
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To this day which sport you play says something about your class origins/ aspirations
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Sport has long been an arena for the reproduction of patriarchal values and gender discrimination remains strong

Sport and Politics
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There is a great deal of research to show that male and female sportspersons are treated differently in the media

Football is the last bastion of homophobia in British society

Sport and Politics
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It has also long been an arena where notions of racial superiority have been mobilised (and contested)

The St Louis Olympics

The Berlin Olympics

The Mexico Olympics

Sport and Politics
Sport has always been political with a small “p” as a place where class, gender and race hierarchies are staged, negotiated and contested

Sport and Politics

The State has always been interested in sport as a way of preventing idleness and disorder

Nineteenth-century movements such as the Turners in Germany or the
Sokols in the Czech part of the Austro-
Hungarian Empire saw sport as a means of maintaining a war-ready male population

Politics and Sport

On a different level, high-level sport is routinely appropriated by official politics

This occurs on a domestic level

Prime Ministers/Members of Royalty attend Cup Finals, Wimbledon Finals etc

Politics and Sport
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It also occurs routinely on an international level

Hosting an international event is seen as an opportunity to present the
“nation” on an international stage

The scale of investment in such events is huge

Politics and Sport

Such events invariably take the form of “media events”

Television coverage is a key element of the overall design

This coverage is driven by the
“national agenda” (Barcelona
Olympics)

Politics and Sport

While political statements by athletes
(however small scale) are invariably sanctioned, political statements by organisers are tolerated:

Parading the flag at the Salt Lake
Winter Olympics

Politics and Sport

Statements by “peripheral” groups attract ferocious criticism

The Catalan advert for the Barcelona
Olympics

Politics and Sport

Sport is inherently political due to its origins and ongoing role in the class structure of the country where it is practised

High-level sport is routinely appropriated for high-level statepolitical ends

Politics and Sport
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Contestation and subversion are always possible

The criticism and sometimes sanctions
(bans from future participation) these actions attract highlight the seriousness of the stakes