Plans for regulator illustrate inherently political nature of football | Jason Stockwood
Sport does not exist in a vacuum and football clubs will always be powerful emblems of our communal identity
Mustafa Suleyman’s timely book The Coming Wave discusses the combinational technologies that will define our future. One quote particularly stood out: “I’ve often heard it said that technology is ‘value neutral’ and that its politics arise from its use. This is so reductive and simplistic that it’s almost meaningless.”
I agree and was thinking similarly 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, as exemplified by the controversies surrounding the World Cup in Qatar, encompassing debates over workers’ rights, environmental practices and discrimination based on sexual orientation, has proven a catalyst for a larger global discourse.
