Does Politics Belong in Football?

With Sunderland hiring Paolo Di Canio as manager this week, his political affiliation has come into question. Di Canio, a perceived fascist has caused a lot of controversy at the historic Teesside club. Left wing politician and foreign secretary David Miliband stepped down from Sunderland’s board of directors this week because of Di Canio’s hiring.

The question then is raised does politics belong in the beautiful game?

Politics and football is not something that is new to the sport. Over the last 100 years there have been many counts of politics entering the game. Whether that be right wing fascist salutes in Russia and Greece, or politicians in Italy having control of some of the top flight clubs.

“Some people think football is a matter of life and death… I assure you it is much, much more important than that.”

When Bill Shankly made this memorable quote he may not have had politics in his mind but he certainly proves that you cannot underestimate the world of football.

In 1934 a time of heightening tension throughout Europe, saw Italy take on Austria. It is perceived that Mussolini, the Italian Dictator handpicked the referee’s for the World cup semi-final game. Italy won the game 1-0 and went on to beat Czechoslovakia in the final. But the game itself was one that the expression 12 men could truly be used, “The referee even played for them," said Austrian striker Josef Bican. "When I passed for the ball out to the right wing, one of our players, Cicek, ran for it and the referee headed it back to the Italians. It was unbelievable." Is winning really that important in a political sense?

Another example of politics in football was in 1958. Algeria was in a war of independence at the same time the World cup was taking place. France opted to give some of the Algerian players in France the opportunity of fame and glory by playing for their national team. However when the tournament rolled around the Algerian players fled the French National team, gathered at the headquarters of the Front Liberation National in Tunisia and launched an "illegal" national team, risking arrest for desertion in the process.

National Identity is something that many people feel very strongly about, whether that is political beliefs or just the pride of being affiliated with a nation of great history.

Was Di Canio’s Fascist salute towards the Lazio fans in 2005 then overstepping the mark? He has gone on record as saying “I’m a fascist, not a racist” but does that still justify him to use a salute that is infamously associated with so much evil. In his autobiography Di Canio talks of admiration for the Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini, saying that Mussolini was simply “misunderstood”.

                                                           Paolo Di Canio's Fascist Salute playing for Lazio in 2005

The Greek National team recently banned Giorgos Katidis from playing international matches for life, due to his Nazi salute in a goal celebration. This is the first stance we have seen from a football governing body in relation to political views. In a sport where racism, homophobia and sexism are not treated with enough respect, is fascism going to be added to the list of concerns not tackled in the game?

Maybe football is more than a matter of life and death, maybe it is a sport that is simply bigger than everything else.