They say that sport and politics should never mix. It’s good that there should be an escape from the day to day life of political manoeuvring but when politics actually means society then sport not only has a right to be part of the debate but an obligation.
The picture of Aylan Kurdi, the three year old boy washed up on a Turkish beach like a rag doll was one of the most shocking we have seen. It questions the very core of our humanity and as individuals and organisations we are bound to act.
Sport has led the social protest in Germany with Bundesliga fans mounting what started as banner protests and has grown into welcome movements where individual clubs invited more refugees to be part of their own communities last week than Ireland had, until yesterday, said it would accommodate.
Bayern Munich have committed to raise €1 million to assist the programme of bringing refugees into a safer environment.
Most poignantly and of greatest relevance to us here Celtic FC announced that it would be releasing funds from its Foundation to help those most affected.
“Having seen the effects of this humanitarian crisis unfold in recent days, we felt as a club we should help in any way we can,” said Celtic’s chief executive, Peter Lawwell.
“Celtic was established as a football club to help people in need and this ethos remains a fundamental part of our club almost 130 years after our formation.”
“None of us can understand the true horrors of this situation but as a club we wanted to show our support for those affected.”
That is what sport should be doing as a leader in our society. There are times when we cannot sit back and rely on somebody else to make a difference.
It is a microcosm of society, with all it’s good and bad. It has been likened as a 21st century alternative to war as a means of releasing national tension. That may be overstating the importance of chasing a ball around a patch of grass but it is our new universal language.
It needs to state that the pictures from Turkey, the deaths in a truck in Austria, the brutality of regimes that give young families no alternative than to throw their lives onto a game of chance on the high seas, is totally unacceptable.
Sport has the power to rally the people and that’s what changes politics more than anything.
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