Sports and politics: an intense debate took a new form after 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the National Anthem before his game on Sept. 1, 2016. Today topics like rainbow captain armbands in soccer and “end racism” signs in the stands behind NFL endzones are considered to be mixing politics with sports. America and the world as a whole seem split on whether or not politics has any role in sports today.
Part of the debate includes a need to define what politics actually is. Without a universal definition, the argument about the intersection of sports and politics will never be solved. According to the Cambridge dictionary, politics is defined as “the activities of the government, members of law-making organizations, or people who try to influence the way a country is governed.”
The debate includes whether or not human rights movements should be considered politics. In fact, the most common form of politics in sports is human rights movements like Black Lives Matter. “I don’t think human rights movements should be considered political, they should be considered moral agreements,” junior Megan Smith said.
Trying to involve politics in sports to any degree will always upset some people. Humans feel passionate about what they believe, so if they see something that goes against it, they can get agitated. “People can get really worked up by politics and opinions,” junior Elijah Liu said.
Love it or not, sports have been and will continue to amplify important causes. Because sports are a staple of society, it puts them in a powerful position. “Politics is currently a very debated topic in sports because sports reach an audience far more varied than any news channel can. It affects both the ones playing and those watching, so it has been brought up in various circumstances, most recently being the Super Bowl halftime show where Bad Bunny sent out messages against ICE,” senior Jacob Footer said.
The reality of whether sports and politics go together is just as with most debates: It depends. Severe crises need to be amplified in any way possible, including sports. “In general, politics being involved in sports is OK in some situations. Currently, with the ICE issues, it is fair to bring it up in sports, but there is an extent where it is too much,” Footer said.
Realistically, regardless of whether someone wants politics mixed with sports or not, it’s almost impossible to avoid it. There are different personalities in sports, and one of those personalities is people who want to share their opinions. “I like my sports and politics separate, but they do have a stage where they can say what they feel and maybe try to influence people,” girls’ varsity soccer coach Chris Thompson said.
One compromise regarding how politics can be included in sports is by allowing each player to choose what they want to represent. For example, when sports teams put rainbow letters on their jerseys in support of the LGBTQ+ community, players could choose if they want those letters or normal ones on their jerseys. “It should be up to the player because they should be able to show who they truly are,” Liu said.
Even if players, teams, and leagues change what they do in regard to politics, it won’t fully solve the problem because fans also bring politics into sports. In fact, fans can be more political than the leagues ever could be. “I think the fanbases bring politics into sports more than the players themselves,” Smith said.
