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World Cup Fever: How Sport Can Promote Understanding and Tolerance

Friday, June 09, 2006 9:39 AM by Julius Court

With the start of the football World Cup, the world's attention has turned to sport. While most people focus on the games, the events have significance that go far beyond the realm of international competition and entertainment. History shows that sport - and football in particular - has an extraordinary ability to promote tolerance and understanding.

The ability of natural talent to overcome hurdles of racism and lack of social opportunity has long been celebrated. Many athletes - from Jesse Owens to Pele to Tiger Woods - have become true role models, helping to promote tolerance and even spur broader social changes.

But extraordinary individual talent is only part of the story. As UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has noted "sport has long displayed an inspiring ability to overcome national, political, ethnic and cultural differences … It can be especially powerful in instilling in children and young people universal values such as respect and tolerance." Sport is a common topic of conversation for people in all places, at all levels and in all roles.

It is football that plays an unparalleled role in promoting understanding - in schoolyards, parks and stadiums around the world. No sport is remotely as global in its participation and following. Football is a common language that has helped people around the world to better understand each other.

It has a unique place in international relations. Consider the following:

  • The rules of the game are transparent, fair and explicitly non-violent.
  • FIFA has more members than the United Nations.
  • Virtually everyone wants to see the superpower, Brazil, in action.
  • The World Cup Final has more viewers and listeners than any other event or programme.

    This is not to gloss over the race problems in football - and sport more generally; they are well known. We should also remember that football is only a game. Football is limited in its ability to solve problems with deeper historical and societal roots.

    But nor should we underestimate football's extraordinary global reach, power and influence.

    2002 was also the first time that a World Cup has been co-hosted by two countries - Japan and Korea. It was the largest project they have worked on together. It was particularly symbolic given the troubled history between the two countries. The co-hosted tournament was certainly a triumph for tolerance and understanding.

    This year's World Cup is building on the progress. FIFA and UNICEF have a joint campaign under the banner "Unite for Children, Unite for Peace" with the aim to demonstrate how football can promote messages of non-violence, tolerance and peace. The official charity of the World Cup is SOS Children's Villages who have the objective to raise funds to give orphans and abandoned children a new home.

    An estimated one billion people will watch the 2006 final on television - and the cumulative audience over the month is likely to top 30 billion viewers. The World Cup hosts, players and international community should not miss the opportunity to tap into this. Through channeling media interest and spurring private conversations, there can be few more effective ways towards promoting international tolerance and understanding.

    For more on this, please see the Op Ed by Julius Court in The Daily Yomiuri, Japan’s largest English-language daily (17 June 2006).(http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/culture/20060617TDY13001.htm)

    • This blog post features the author's personal view and does not represent the view of ODI.

     

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    # Football & Tolerance: A humanitarian sector perspective @ Monday, June 12, 2006 5:16 PM

    Touch rugby on the beach in Sierra Leone and volleyball in Mandera as stress relief for aid workers. Football as a tool for engagement with the community by Botswana peacekeepers in Somalia.

    Concern Worldwide support the Elman Football Club in Mogadishu, Somalia - founded to focus young people on sport rather than violence. (http://www.concern.net/docs/annualreport/2003.pdf ) They note that sport has long been recognized as an effective technique in preventing conflicts and promoting peace in a divided society.

    Lots of attempts to use sport for reconciliation in Bosnia and Kosovo but I'm sceptical about their usefulness. And lots of other examples around this theme from the humanitarian sector. It's all a bit football between the trenches - fine for a kick-about but doesn’t stop people killing each other.

    Paul Harvey, ODI

    # re: World Cup Fever: How Sport Can Promote Understanding and Tolerance @ Tuesday, June 20, 2006 3:16 PM

    Some other organisations are thinking about the links between the World Cup and development. WDM (World Development Movement) and Make Poverty History Campaigners have set up http://www.whoshouldicheerfor.com which allows globally conscious footy fans to pick their teams depending on how they measure up on poverty, ethical and global citizenship criteria.

    Oxfam's Bring on the World site http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/bringontheworld is using football as a springboard to explore global issues including inequality, the sportswear industry and the positives and negatives of 'competition' through educational activities for 9-11 year olds.

    Georgina Barrett

    # re: World Cup Fever: How Sport Can Promote Understanding and Tolerance @ Wednesday, June 21, 2006 11:11 AM

    Numerous initiatives take advantage of the pulling power of the beautiful game to bring people together. Health and peacebuilding initiatives, especially those aimed at young people, are often tied to football and are popular with donors. But football might have more to offer in terms of the contribution it can make to global development. Some researchers believe the governance and globalisation of the modern game can provide useful lessons for development policy makers. You can read more on this on the Eldis news weblog at:

    http://community.eldis.org/webx?14@@.ee9593d!discloc=.eed0bf7

    Alan Stanley

    # Football, Tolerance and Development @ Monday, July 03, 2006 3:53 PM

    A few more thoughts on sport and tolerance as the World Cup finals near.  

    It was also great to see that FIFA used the quarter-finals to convey their message against racism and descrimination. With the 'Say No to Racism' banners and statements by team captains, the message went to the stadiums and to a TV audience of billions. (It was also a huge relief that there has been minimal crowd trouble and violence.)

    I’ve got a host of emails alerting me to interesting things on this topic. These include:

    UNICEF

    UNICEF does various things on Sport and Development (http://www.unicef.org/sports/index.html) in addition to the work on Football (http://www.unicef.org/football/). For the 2006 FIFA World Cup, UNICEF teamed up with FIFA team to ensure every child's right to a peaceful world. For example, football was used in Kyrgyzstan to raise public awareness of key issues for young people, particularly HIV/AIDS (http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/kyrgyzstan_23370.html). There are other examples of sport and promoting HIV awareness (http://www.unicef.org/football/2002/aids/index.html). UNICEF’s work around the 2002 World Cup focused on a Campaign – Say Yes to Children (http://www.unicef.org/football/2002/index.html).

    Sport and Development: Some Initiatives

    (i) A recent paper by the IBLF highlights how sport can be used to tackle challenges such as reducing corruption, education, mitigating conflict and fostering economic development. (http://www.eldis.org/cf/search/disp/docdisplay.cfm?doc=DOC19281&resource=f1csr)

    (ii) Sport and Development is an Internet platform which promotes sport as a as a new domain of international cooperation, with lots of news, information about projects and a toolkit. (http://www.sportanddev.org/en/)

    (iii) A recent article in Development magazine argues the beautiful game suggests could play an increasing role in international development. (http://www.developments.org.uk/data/issue25/power-of-football.htm)

    (iv) There is a set of interesting articles in E+Z (another development magazine). The editorial by Hans Dembowski talks about football, identities and social inclusion. Shelia Mysorekar from Argentina talks about football in Latin America providing a sense of belonging – which can be used for progressive ends or abused by authoritarian regimes. Joseph Muller Afanyagbe highlights how athletes from Togo serve as reole models. Martin Kampchen highlights how governments fail to recognize the potential of visual media for educating people. (http://www.inwent.org/E+Z/index-eng.html)

    Media Articles:

    The Economist
    The Economist looks at Sports and Politics and Why the World Cup is better than the Olympics.
    http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7038930

    The Observer
    The Observer argues that Sport and Football have always played an important role in Angolan society, even during the war (which recently ended). 'Despite a war that lasted more than 30 years, the Angolan government always created conditions for soccer and other sporting activities to continue’ (Amaral Alexio).
    http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sport/story/0,,1794865,00.html

    Julius Court

    # re: World Cup Fever: How Sport Can Promote Understanding and Tolerance @ Thursday, July 06, 2006 8:55 PM

    Here’s another interesting international initiative linked to the world cup - World Street Football Cup: http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/worldcup06/2006/07/05/the_beautiful_game_making_a_re.html

    But, while I don’t want to get too serious or carping -let's say it's just in the interest of balance... I can’t resist putting an alternative point of view.  The extreme counter-position to all of the above is perhaps most eloquently stated by George Orwell in his famous essay “The Sporting Spirit”: http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/o/orwell/george/o79e/part32.html

    Taking a slightly less jaundiced view, “sport” as a category is perhaps like “civil society” (of which sports clubs etc are of course a subset).  It can cover such a range of activities and associational life that, while I’m sure it has many positives, there’s bound to be negatives too.  

    So on the one hand we have football as an international “language” which people can use to build bridges at many levels, as well illustrated by other contributors; on the other, neo-fascist hooligan groups using football as a vehicle.  The most notorious example of this was perhaps the “Tigers” hooligan group, which the late and unlamented Serbian gangster “Arkan” formed at Red Star Belgrade.  This formed the basis for paramilitary units which are widely alleged to have committed war crimes in Croatia and Bosnia:
    http://www.trial-ch.org/en/trial-watch/profile/db/facts/zeljko_raznjatovic_388.html

    The economics of the game is another minefield, e.g. the replica shirt industry – to what extent does this drive development, or impede it and maintain people in poverty through exploitative value chains?   There’s a TUC/Labour Behind The Label report out to coincide with the Cup   http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/sweetfa.pdf

    As for learning lessons from FIFA and football governance - anyone interested in pursuing the politics of FIFA might find the investigative journalism of Andrew Jennings interesting (and possibly full of lessons): http://www.playthegame.org/Knowledge%20bank/Authors/Andrew%20Jennings.aspx
    http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/books/default.aspx?id=33430

    Right, that’s my rant over.  Certainly no-one can question the global power of the World Cup.  Everyone seems to want to either harness it or suppress it – from development research organisations to the government of North Korea or the new rulers of Mogadishu! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/5078894.stm

    And no, this is not all because England were knocked out… after all, I have Italy in the office sweepstake so I’m all for the World Cup!

    Tim Braunholtz, ODI

    # Sport and Community in the UK @ Friday, July 07, 2006 11:51 AM

    There is also lots of interesting work going on here in the UK.

    I manage a small grants scheme and one of grant's themes is play and leisure in the community, we have a number of projects that use sport or leisure as a medium with which to engage young people in their local community.

    For example a group of 12-16 year olds in a deprived area of Wakefield applied for a grant to set up a dance academy. They learnt new dance skills from professional dancers and choreographed their own performance, which they showed to the local community at a special event.  During this event they also facilitated a series of workshops for younger children in the community, so that they could pass on their new skills whilst gaining valuable teaching experience at the same time.

    Another group, Youth For Hackney applied and was successful in being awarded a grant to make a measurable impact on the basketball activity levels among children and young people (aged 8-25 years of age) throughout south Hackney, and on their attitudes towards substance abuse. They organised sessions to take place in the evening after school (6-8pm), offering young people in the area an opportunity to be productive in their spare time. The programme combined basketballs and learning. The young people were required to attend a 30 minutes workshop on a variety of topics such as drugs awareness and personal development before taking part in basketball sessions. The Olympic basketball team heard about what this group were up to and went along a couple of times!

    We have just selected the new round of projects to award, there are 46 of them and quite a few involve sport.

    Check out our website www.helpyourselves.org.uk

    Rox Brown
    Programme Manager
    Save the Children

    Rox Brown