Sport and Politics

Do politics and ideology have a place in the sport arena?

I believe politics and ideology can have a place around the arena but not inside the arena. To try to take away from the sport in which you are representing shows a lack of discipline and self control, and a lack of respect for the sport.

There is nothing wrong with having views and expressing them, or using your skills to show people your ideologies but once you’re in the formal setting of the sport, it should be about the sport. Sport isn’t taking away from your ideologies so why let your ideologies take away from the sport.

Sports have rules, and some of those rules are there to protect the sport. Say someone comes out displaying his ideologies, the sport says that’s fine. Now someone with different ideologies sees this and decides that they are now allowed to show there ideologies as a white supremacist, they are just showing their beliefs, their ideologies, where they come from, where would it stop. This is why the sports have rules, to protect it from becoming less about the sport and more a political jumping ground. Pre sport and post sport interviews and showings sure let it be known, your culture, your feelings your views, but athletes should realise the sport doesn’t represent them; they represent the sport as soon as they enter that arena.

Sure, why not freedom of speech as long as everyone has the same right. In sport everyone does have the same right, and that’s the right to leave it out of the professional arena and on the sideline.

In this case Damien Hooper broke the rules of the team and broke the rules of the IOC. He said he knew the rules and didn’t care, yet people are scrutinising the rules of being in the professional area.

All of these articles prove that politics and ideologies should be left outside the professional arena. We have a world class boxing match that is represted by a few paragraphs in between pages of something completely separate from the sport that is boxing.