Double standards on mixing politics and sports

Arab athletes speak out on double standards on bringing politics into sports. Almost as soon as the Russia-Ukraine war began, an unprecedented wave of boycotts and sanctions of everything Russian, including music, art, theater, literature and, of course, sports, kicked in.

Athletes and commentators are pointing out international sporting bodies’ laxity with political expression regarding the Russia-Ukraine war within sporting events, compared to often harsh repercussions when Arab sportspeople would touch on the Palestinian occupation, AFP writes. 

Egyptian squash champion Ali Farag is among those pointing out the double standard, using his victory speech at a recent championship to say that it’s suddenly okay to discuss politics in sports. 

Earlier this month, Palestinian midfielder Mohamed Rashid refused to stand with his Indonesian club Persib Bandung as they raised a “stop war’”sign. “

When war erupted in a Western country, everyone stood with it, but when people die in Palestine, we are not allowed to show solidarity and are accused of mixing politics and sports,” he said at the time.

FIFA’s double standards are abhorrent, to say the least. But it is not the only hypocrite. The International Paralympics Committee last week went as far as denying athletes from Russia and Belarus the right to compete at this year’s Winter Paralympics in Beijing. 

The decision was justified on the basis that having these athletes participate would jeopardize the “viability” of the events and, supposedly, make the safety of the athletes “untenable,” despite the fact that the Russian and Belarusian athletes were, due to the political context, set to take part as neutrals.

International sports associations, including FIFA, have banned any political or religious expression on the sports field.

In the past, sports governing bodies have tolerated some exceptions to the general ban on making political statements, but they have all been short-lived.