As part of the global reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, sport has been thrust into a bright spotlight, ending perhaps once and for all the idea that sport and politics should be kept separate.
The International Olympic and Paralympic Committees, who have always held the line that sport should be above all political divides have stepped firmly over it with a statement issued on Monday which “recommends that International Sports Federations and sports event organisers not invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarussian athletes and officials in international competitions.”
For a body that long railed against the idea of political boycotts of games that is a telling reversal of policy.
It is one that matches the eventual decision of FIFA and UEFA who also announced yesterday that “FIFA and UEFA have today decided together that all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice.”
“These decisions were adopted today by the Bureau of the FIFA Council and the Executive Committee of UEFA, respectively the highest decision-making bodies of both institutions on such urgent matters.”
“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine. Both presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people.”
This itself followed pressure from national associations, including the FAI who had announced that they would not fulfil fixtures against Russian teams at any level.
The UEFA Champions League Final was stripped from St Petersburg on Friday.
Early this morning World Rugby added to the international shunning of Russia saying that it has suspended Russia and Belarus “in line with the recommendations of the IOC.
F1 will host a meeting this morning to consider the status of Haas driver Nikita Mazepin, whose father is a major backer of the team and a businessman in Russia. The car races in the Red, White and Blue of the Russian flag though Mazepin himself drives under a neutral flag of the Russian Automobile Federation.
The new World Number one in Men’s tennis Daniil Medvedev issued a statement calling for peace but is another likely to be caught up in the crosshairs of diplomacy.
The same is true of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovitch whose plans to transfer ownership of the football club to his charitable foundation appear to be foundering with trustees expressing discomfort with the logistics and the optics of the move, and the UK Charity Commission also taking a close interest in the mechanics and the motivation.
The sports pages of international media are filled with stories of how sport is standing up in this new front of war away from the battlefield.
Russia has a long and storied tradition of both competing at the highest level of world sport and hosting many of its marquee events. Both the Winter Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup have been staged under Vladimir Putin’s rule, while Russian energy company Gazprom was a major global sponsor until those contracts were terminated by governing bodies over the weekend as well.
UEFA ended its partnership with the Champions League, UEFA Euro 2024 and the UEFA Nations League with immediate effect.
If sport can play a part in ending the war in Ukraine and easing the pain of those caught up in it, then it should do so, in the same way as other major economic and political organisations are turning their back on Russia.
