CC BY
36SECTION VII. Sport and politics in the modern world ng
CONNECTION BETWEEN POLICY AND MODERN
SPORT
Abstract
Since ancient times we hear the story that the sport doesn't dependent on politics. It seems that this theory is as old as the sport. Reality, however, shows us that this is a big misconception and incorrect assertion, because without policy any modern sport would probably not exist. The falseness of the idea can be proven by the statement of Pierre De Coubertin who is considered to be the father of the modern Olympic Games. Sport is an ideal tool to ensure the stable development of the political system. Politics and sport are interconnected at various levels. The ruling regimes in all countries have recognized the potential of sport as entertainment for the people. It seems that sport doesn't need policy, but it is clear that the policy needs sport very much, which is often used by various government bodies around the world in order to promote some of their goals.
Top sports scores provide a large number of sponsors, powerful and influential companies with a lot of money. Ordinary people use sports events to relax, forget about the everyday problems of life, and very often in many countries events in stadiums and halls and are connected to the big political changes.
Sport in many poor countries is a factor of recognition in the world, while the rich people are aspiring to further increase their power and influence through sports.
Key words: sports, politics, influence, government, money, competition.
Authors
Vladimir Obradovic
Doctor of Economic Science Professor of management
College for Football Coaching and Sport Management (Belgrade, Serbia)
Marko Kimi Milic
Professor of management
College for Football Coaching and Sport Management (Belgrade, Serbia)
PHENOMENON OF THE CONCEPT OF SPORT
Sport is a human and social construct. Sport has its own organized institutions that operate rather independently. However, sport can not be separated from society, from its direct dependence of its organization and other factors. Looking at the sport as
a phenomenon, it is clear that this is a very complex. Sport has entered into all spheres of social life.
Regarding the political aspect, it has always been an instrument of policy. Sport is in large measure at the service of national interests and political structures, which have sometimes decisive influence on the general development of sports.
The power of sport lies in its great ability to encourage individual and groups of people. Therefore, it is possible to understand the phenomenon of physical exercise, sports competitions as an avalanche of 30 million humans fueled by the desire of physical movement. Exercise can help people who need help.
Such a power of human movement, stronger than any political speech, is a quality which until now was not known.
Sport is interesting, necessary to prove permanent victories and defeats of a new, more beautiful dimension of life.
If you look at the fans in the stadiums, halls, arenas, you'll understand the kind of relaxation from the daily duties, that they get, but also the need of it could be present in certain aspects of social life. Sports competitions affect different psychological sides of fans, each one is individual and has its own reasons.
WHAT IS POLICY?
The explanation of the term is necessary to clarify and to understand because its goals and interests are in many ways related to the sport.
Politics is by definition governance skills, skills of government and existing bilateral relations. Politics involves the work of state bodies (government, parliament) and the work of all individuals in the state functions.
POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN SPORT
Sport has historically always been very important in all states and governments worldwide. Numerous events throughout history demonstrate the great integration of sports and politics.
In ancient Greece Panhellenic Games were organized with the intention to to encourage youth to exercise.
In Rome, the work and physical exercise were considered undesirable, the game did not have such a stimulating character for youth as in Greece. Roman rulers used games for political purposes,
to win respect of the broad masses. They built special facilities for the games that were intended to reduce social unrest. It was an attempt to adopt the Olympic Games in Rome as an attempt of political influence on society through sports.
From the rich sporting history, it is evident that the use of sport to achieve political objectives is one of the instruments of politicians in all countries, regardless of their economic status.
A very common method is the use of sport for political pressure. Although due to the interference of politics for the sake of higher goals, it is usually athletes who suffer, because they are not in a position to avoid being influenced personally or in their careers by powerful people.
PHENOMENON OF THE STADIUM — MORE THAN SPORT, A START OF POLITICAL IDEAS
Although the concept of the stadium is primarily related to sports, mainly soccer and football games, but sociologically speaking, the stadium has a much greater significance and power.
Given the fact that the stadiums are the largest sports facilities for football, and it is the most popular game in the world, the vast mass of people coming to the games has a hidden power to influence many social events. The same is the case with politicians and their daily political events.
How is that possible?
In each stadium there are around 40-50,000 people, on average, who make thunderous chants for or against the events, it is a sort of government, an institution that has a strong reflect on other people who listens and om to millions of them watching TV. Chanting has a very big psychological resonance because then the observers wonder — has the cause that made you exclaim had a right reason? As a result it is estimated that a majority of people automatically wants to connect to the group to be a part of it because it feels so powerful. People by inertia join
a large group because they do not want to stay outside, hence, they alter their attitudes and are easily under-determined to change their minds.
All politicians in the world want a good relationship with the leading fan groups in their countries, because no one is pleasant when a large mass of public is agitated, and everyone is televised so in this case the possibility of spreading discontent becomes higher.
THE EXAMPLE OF THE IMPACT OF POLICY ON SPORT IN THE WORLD
Not without reason, many successful American athletes (Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Carl Lewis) had a huge obsession with money and via American media have a large public exposure.
All athletes of the United States are mainly black and they have a strong impact on all the other dark-skinned athletes, but they are also under a lot of attention towards themselves. In all parts of the world people listen to different music, young people dress like NBA players, thus creating a kind of global African pop culture. In this way, through emulation on their sports idols, young Africans are trying to flee from a politically imposed disenfran-chisement of dark-skinned people. The real situation is perhaps best described in the declaration of the Olympic Committee for Human Rights, founded in the United States on the eve of the Olympic Games in Mexico City, whose member was Martin Luther King, and where it is clearly stated:
"We can not afford to allow the US to use a few blacks to show the world how much progress there is in solving racial problems, while African-Americans are more than ever exposed to oppression. We can not allow that the world of sports shows the racial justice in a declarative way, but the sports industry is mostly injust".
This is only a small tag which shows perfectly clear that the political decisions have a real racial selection, starting from the highest levels to the lowest, that many
powerful people decide how they will treat anyone depending on their marketing relevance.
OLYMPIC GAMES AND POLITICS
The Olympic Games are the biggest and the most important sports events in the world. Nothing else has that kind of competition tradition and historical significance as the Olympic Games. Unfortunately, because of the great popularity, media and marketing representation has inevitable influence of policy through decades of its existence which made a lot of damage.
The slogan "it is important to participate" is actual today but the message is lost in time, especially if we know that the Olympic events have become a training ground for politics and wars.
How else to explain the military parade organized by the President of North Korea Kim Jong Un gave on the eve of the Olympics in Pyeongchang.
We also remember the meeting of German Chancellor Adolf Hitler with a dark-skinned American athlete Jesse Owens, who wanted the Olympics of 1936 to promote the superiority of his regime,
In 1972 at the Olympics in Munich one of the greatest tragedies ever took place, when Palestinian terrorists entered the building where the Israeli athletes were killed. Several athletes were held hostage and some of them were killed. Although it was an indescribable tragedy, president said that the Games must continue.
Summer Olympic Games in Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984 — Moscow's decision to host the Games revealed a message that the Olympics can be organized in the communist countries. As the Cold War was in progress there was a big boycott by Western countries led by the USA and followed by another 64 countries. This boycott was never forgiven by the Soviet Union who boycotted the Olympics in LA in 1984, together with the athletes from Cuba and 14 other countries of the Eastern Bloc.
SPORTS SANCTIONS AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA — THE CASE OF BRUTAL
POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN SPORT
As we have already mentioned everyone is trying to say that the sport marketing should belong exclusively to athletes, to be totally out of politics. That sounds really nice, and so it should be, but in practice it is definitely not the case. The sport is popular, profitable to the growing interest of policy, because in modern sport everything is about money.
In 1992 Yugoslavia national football team qualified for the European Championship as the first in its qualifying group. Although in the fairest possible way qualified for the this big competition, Yugoslavia could not participate on the same conditions due to the imposed UN sanctions because of the war in the region. Without going into political analysis the imposed sanctions were introduced not only in Serbia, and each of us could wonder how it concerns the sport. What have politicians, military conflicts in common with the football? Why punish those who deal with the most beautiful things in the world due to political events?
The common sense would say that sport should not suffer for nothing that sports team can't be punished only if the authorities do something illegal. But words are one thing, practice is unfortunately something completely different. Political interests, brutal demonstration of power have prevailed over sport, punishing the entire nation and making impossible for you to watch your team during the next 3 years. Until 1995, Yugoslavia was not allowed to participate again in all international sports competitions.
DOPING IN ATHLETICS — TYPICAL MIX OF POLITICS
The world's media witnessed that the Russian athletes for several years have systematically used doping, that it was all deliberately organized action and that the athletes should be banned from competing in a number of years.
Overall, doping in sport is a special theme, and some would say that it is not new or strange in today's sport.
However, the matter is very clear. When the western centers of political power stress that only the Russian athletes use doping they want to impose a negative image of the country and thus to weaken its international reputation. Considering that doping is wrong and illegal, the constant repetition of the story that a country organized the doping of their athletes (which of course is not true), leads to psychological warfare winning over other countries to condemn this act.
Former director of the Russian AntiDoping Agency Nikolay Durmanov said that the accusations are completely meaningless and called them "literary work according to the demands".
It is very strange that the athletes from other countries do not have a problem with collective doping, but only Russian athletes reportedly have. It is clear that this is a political campaign driven by the higher interests of certain centers of power.
CONCLUSION
Sport and politics are only on paper two separate areas, and in daily practical life are very much interdependent. In this day and age when big money dictates everything, it is practically impossible to lead a club, a team, an individual without making political decisions. The policy represents authority, power, money, influence, and sport entertainment for millions of people. Sport is therefore very important in the area that is directly or indirectly managed by politicians. It is not disputed that there are healthy and good ways to help the sport without the power of politics,which makes often a wrong, unfair and inappropriate interference in sport. There are numerous examples of this:
During the preparation of the largest sporting events such as the Olympics and World Cup football, sport suffers from a lot of lobbying and political influence. We
have listed many cases of political interference in the sport of the Olympic games, compared white and black athletes, sporting sanctions introduction.
The reality is that the sport will not be separated from politics and therefore, we will see a lot of beautiful sport events in future.
