Aneline Wood
On the 6th of November, Aston Villa played Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Europa League. There were no Maccabi fans in the stadium. In a statement on 16 October, Aston Villa said Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG) – which issues safety certificates for every match at the ground – had “formally written to the club and UEFA to advise no away fans will be permitted to attend” the fixture.
There is precedent to suggest the possibility of violence from these fans.
Maccabi Tel Aviv then announced that even if the ban were to be overturned, they would not sell their fans any tickets. In a statement, Maccabi said this was because “The wellbeing and safety of our fans is paramount”. Unsurprisingly, the Israeli club are choosing to frame the ban as designed to protect their supporters from violent, ‘antisemitic’ attacks.
However, the resulting uproar, including criticism from Sir Keir Starmer and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, would suggest that this ban is at least equally about the potential for hooliganism and violence from Tel Aviv fans.
There is precedent to suggest the possibility of violence from these fans. “Violent riots” led to Maccabi’s match against local rival Hapoel in Tel Aviv being called off on 19 October. There were also violent clashes in Amsterdam last year when Maccabi Tel Aviv played Dutch club Ajax.
This situation is undeniably political and many believe politics should be kept out of football.
Perhaps there were significant safety concerns, and therefore, the ban can be justified. Ayoub Khan, an independent MP for Birmingham Perry Barr said from the moment the match was announced, there were “latent safety risks”. However, this situation is undeniably political, and many believe politics should be kept out of football.
For example, players taking the knee before matches as a statement against racism has been criticised as it is seen as political. Before Euro 2020, the then Home Secretary Priti Patel said that she did not support “people participating in that type of gesture politics”. Nigel Farage said he believed politics should stay out of football.
Could it be considered unrealistic for FIFA to try and keep politics out of the game?
This specific statement has a long and significant history in sport, as athletes often seek to draw attention to racial inequalities. Famously, in 1968, African American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised gloved fists when they received their gold and bronze medals at that year’s Olympics Games, to spread awareness of the anti-Black racism that characterised life for Black people in “Jim Crow” America. More recently in 2016, NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and teammates took the knee before matches for the San Francisco 49ers to draw attention to the brutality suffered by Black people in the US at the hands of the country’s law enforcement.
Another example of politics in football is the ‘One Love’ LGBTQ armband at the Qatar World Cup. The soccer captains of seven European teams were set to wear rainbow armbands during Qatar’s World Cup to promote a message of LGBTQ inclusion. Same-sex relationships are criminalised in Qatar, and members of the LGBTQ community have been arrested and mistreated by authorities. The armband was due to act as a form of silent protest. However, FIFA prohibits the use of political statements on team kits and warned that players wearing One Love armbands would receive an instantaneous yellow card at kick-off.
However, could it be considered unrealistic for FIFA to try and keep politics out of the game? Perhaps football is such a big part of our lives and therefore inherently political, as politics are so deeply embedded in every part of our lives. It is inevitable that players, who are human beings, and teams run by human beings, will have political opinions and of course, they will want to show their support for these.
The notion that sports can exist in a vacuum, devoid of the world’s complexities and challenges, is not only implausible but naive.
In fact, could it be said that football has a responsibility to discuss political issues? It is so widely watched, and footballers act as role models for so many people, that perhaps they have a duty to show their support for these causes and marginalised groups.
Guardian journalist Jason Stockwood writes that football extends beyond the pitch, weaving itself into the very fabric of our societal, cultural and, most unmistakably, political realities. The notion that sports can exist in a vacuum, devoid of the world’s complexities and challenges, is not only implausible but naive.
Football increasingly finds itself drawn into the UK’s culture wars.
Although perhaps there is a way in which politics and football are intertwined that becomes slightly more problematic. Football increasingly finds itself drawn into the UK’s culture wars. One example of this is some of the chants that travelling England supporters could be heard singing at World Cup qualifiers, like the one against Serbia. “Stop the boats, stop the boats.” “Nigel Farage, we’re all voting for Reform UK.”
Farage is an ally of US President Donald Trump, and Trump himself is aware of the political capital that can be made from football. He has placed himself at the forefront of preparations for the 2026 World Cup – making regular appearances alongside FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Trump is aware of the reach offered by the world’s most popular sport, and Reform seems to be following a similar approach, albeit on a far smaller scale.
A light blue Reform FC football shirt was launched ahead of their annual conference last month, with “Farage 10” printed on the back. British GQ, the fashion magazine, has likened them to MAGA baseball caps. Weaponising football has long been part of the nationalist playbook – Benito Mussolini turned the 1934 World Cup into a platform to promote the policies of his National Fascist Party, and there have continued to be links between football and far-right political ideology in other European countries such as Russia, Hungary and Poland.
Reform is a populist party, so it makes sense that they are trying to associate themselves with a popular sport. However, considering Farage’s criticism of taking the knee, it feels more than a little hypocritical.
Should football play a part in politics?
Ultimately, it feels inevitable that politics will play a part in football, and this certainly has the potential to have a significant positive impact when it comes to activism and promoting the welfare of marginalised groups. But should football play a part in politics? Perhaps politicians using football to further their political agenda have the potential to be harmful, especially when used to promote nationalism and far-right principles.
Aneline Wood
Featured image courtesy of Fancy Crave via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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