…namely should politics be kept out of sport. I’ve always believed the two should not be mixed, but equally I’ve always accepted that it is impossible to keep them apart. Modern sport has thrived on government grants, and virtually every international competition involves flag-waving and national anthems. It would be naive to think otherwise, so representing your country carries with it an obligation to represent its government, its people and its heritage. Governments come and go in the passage of time, but in a democratic world the process should be seamless as far as sport is concerned. But it is open to exploitation and abuse when tyranny reigns. We only have to look at the history of the Olympics to see how easy is has been for politicians to use sport for their own means. We should never forget 1936 and the Berlin Olympics when Adolf Hitler stole the limelight for his own propaganda in preparation for war. Mugabwe is a modern Adolf Hitler.
Politics in enshrined in sport and it will always be. After all, who is pulling the strings in the latest Irish Football Association debacle, but none other than Minister Nelson McCausland, and the reason that he has significant influence is because he has control of lucrative government grants that are supposedly destined for football.
Money talks.
Michael highlights the atrocities in Zimbabwe to present his argument, but in reality you would be hard-pressed to find any sane person who would condone the actions of Robert Mugabe and his government in the past decade and beyond. The saddest part of Zimbabwe cricket is that it has no separate identity, and for many observers, the people who run cricket in that ravaged country, are supporters or puppets of Mugabwe. It begs the question, if we can see it from across the world, then why can’t the ICC not see it and act accordingly?
Cricket Ireland and Scotland have been put in an impossible situation by the ICC’s directive to play in Zimbabwe. The ICC should have acted long since and isolated Zimbabwe until their cricket association can distance itself from its political dictators. Michael Taylor quite rightly says Mugabwe has used cricket visits as an endorsement of his international acceptance, so all the more reason not to go there. The ICC should insist on Zimbabwe playing their fixtures away until things change for the better, and in the meantime countries like Ireland and Scotland should not be directed to visit, but given the option to go or not.
Zimbabwe cricket receives huge funding from the ICC every year, and it is not to difficult to work out where the funds end up. Those same funds could be better used in places like Ireland where the sport desperately needs medium and long term funding to establish itself in the professional arena. But the issue is not about Irish cricket; the issue is about whether international sport can be played in a country where a ruthless and tyrannical government is actively involved in controlling that sport. In the case of Zimbabwe there is plenty of evidence to suggest this is not the time for international sports teams to be going there.
Let us hope the ICC acts in the interests of everyone.
Clarence Hiles
Editor
