When the Iranian national team refuse to sing their national anthem to support protesters back in their home country; when hundreds of footballers follow NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and take a knee at the start of their matches, they join a long tradition of protest. Maybe the most iconic moment was created by Tommie Smith and John Carlos, two American sprinters who raised their fists at the 1968 Olympics in protest at racism and injustice in their communities. Their freedom to speak, the risk they each took to protest, has helped shape sport’s role in our society.
You will know that going into this World Cup, several national federations and their teams had planned to wear a familiar rainbow armband – one they had worn in previous competitions. This was a simple and modest gesture – they wanted to shun prejudice and show solidarity with millions of people around the world who are not free to love whom they want. What followed – threats of sanctions against players, scrambling for answers by the federations – revealed the friction between players and the various sporting institutions, and an inability to look beyond their political wrangling to the values that might unite them.
