How often do we hear a politician say that ‘sport and politics should not mix’? The fact is, they always have – and politicians know it. The comms challenge is how to work with this reality, identify potential threats, and get your messaging right.
Politicians are contrary beasts. Members of the same political party this week grumbled about the pre-match taking of the knee, asking for politics to stay out of football, while the PM himself then commented about the England & Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB’s) punishment of Ollie Robinson for his historic offensive tweets.
Politicians know that sport and politics go together. They always have. This is what I tweeted from my football culture blog account, Outside Write:
Anyone who thinks politics and sport shouldn’t mix is naïve.
— Outside Write ⚽️ (@outsidewrite) June 8, 2021
Maybe it shouldn’t, but the fact is it does and always will – because of its platform, and because it often pits nations/regions/people against each other in a non-violent way.
T’was ever thus.
As soon as you put flags and crests on things, it becomes an us-and-them thing. “War minus the shooting,” as Orwell put it. Politicians need to read more about history if they really think politics and sport do not mix, and we don’t even need to go back to the Berlin Olympics of 1936 for examples. The last World Cup saw Switzerland’s Albanian-born players show the ‘eagle’ hand gesture after scoring against Serbia. Just this month, Ukraine’s Euro 2020 shirt sparked fury in neighbouring Russia as it contains an outline of the country, much of which Russia disputes. The two countries have to be kept apart in qualifying.
The challenge for sports comms pros is how to respond to potential political aspects, wherever they come from. I think Gareth Southgate did a good job in explaining why the team continues to take the knee. Every brand needs a clear and consistent position on diversity and inclusion, and other issues of our time.
For the politicians who say sport and politics don’t mix, I guarantee that politicians from England, Scotland and Wales will be playing the patriot game hard this summer to appeal to their respective audiences at a time of heightened nationalism in the UK regions. Especially when England and Scotland play each other – expect the same old Braveheart refences from 700 years ago with a direct connection made to an inevitable second independence referendum. Imagine the tweets if Scotland wins that one.
Then there’s an Olympics set in a fast-changing COVID-19 crisis. It’s going to be a long summer…
Chris Lee is the author of Origin Stories: The Pioneers Who Took Football to the World and editor of the football culture blog and podcast, Outside Write.