Connecting Football With Politics

Former UK ambassador to Moscow, Anthony Brenton, writes pragmatically here about the human rights situation in Russia, in a week where the judicial verdict on multi-billionaire oil tycoon Mikhail Khodordovsky has provoked a far greater outcry from the European Union than, say, the severe beating of journalist Oleg Sulkin last month.

“On human rights issues we should not expect to make an early difference,” says Brenton, “or even to be listened to very politely, but we should nevertheless be very clear when we see our values being violated – particularly when those violations breach Russia’s international commitments (such as the European Convention on Human Rights to which, remarkably and encouragingly, Russia remains a party). For the West to remain silent on these issues (as depressingly many Western countries do) simply strengthens those inside Russia who believe they can continue to steal and torture with impunity, and weakens those brave Russians who are trying to stop them.”

Brenton argues that the transition from a corrupt and thuggish authoritarian state to liberal democracy is necessarily a gradual one, and will be the result of both continued economic development, and further international integration. So in the latter respect, awarding the 2018 World Cup to Russia can be viewed as a catalyst for social change.

At least it could be if FIFA was the kind of organisation capable of connecting the two in terms other than self-serving clichés about football bringing the whole happy world together. And if it widened its involvement beyond nagging host countries about the progress of stadium construction, and a dictatorial obsession with strangulating local business to the benefit of its parasitic core sponsors.

Chuck Blazer's special 'friend'

FIFA’s official line, however, is that football and politics don’t mix, and it is always extremely quick to ban any member country government that interferes with its local football association by, for example, sacking corrupt officials. But if it was genuinely concerned about the cross-over, it ought to have banned all the FIFA Executive Committee members who reportedly met or chatted to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the run-up to this month’s vote. CONCACAF representative ‘Brazen’ Chuck Blazer even blogged about it quite openly, boasting that Putin was now his “friend”.

Not that Russia was the only country to use its politicians to grub for votes. England sent the comically inept UK Prime Minister David Cameron to Zurich for three days, and was subsequently humiliated, while the comely smiles of former US President Bill Clinton failed to land a money shot on FIFA’s best dress. So let’s quit the pretence that sport and politics are separate domains. FIFA should appoint a more-than-token official – with the title, perhaps, of Vice President, Human Rights - with a brief to oversee whether journalists will be able to report freely while in Russia, or whether ‘illegal’ sexual, racial or religious minorities can visit Qatar, and have sex there, during and beyond 2022.

‘More than just a game’ needs to be more than just a lame slogan.