VOTE: Do politics and sport go together?

8:55am Thursday 3rd July 2008

We would all love to believe that sport is above politics, but the reality is so much different.

Two of our writers beg to differ on that eternal questiuon: Do politics and sport go together?

YES, says David MagiltonEVEN before the Australian Prime Minister had to step in to sort out a diplomatic incident created by England's infamous cricket "Bodyline tour' in 1933, sport and politics have been unhealthy bedfellows.

The current dilemma facing international cricket over whether or not to throw out Zimbabwe from the ICC is just the latest in a long list of incidents which have put the two on a collision course - and that is not going to change.

We would all love to believe that sport is above politics, but the reality is so much different.

The Olympics are clearly the biggest stage where governments have exploited their influence on sport.

The first blatant attempt was in the 1936 Berlin Olympics when German leader Adolf Hitler cynically used the Games to promote his despicable Nazi beliefs on the world.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the medal tables were dominated by drug-fuelled athletes from the old Eastern bloc countries, whose state-sponsored support ran roughshod over any pretence to be fair or have the athletes' well-being in mind.

China, the hosts of this summer's Olympic Games, one of the biggest sporting events in the world, are currently peddling the values of their regime, blatantly using the Games as a propoganda tool and happy to ignore their oppression of the people of Tibet in the bargain.

Fortunately it has not gone without a hiccup and the move backfired on them with the Olympic torch relay event, which was hijacked by protesters in Britain and several other European countries, leading to red faces in Beijing.

The demonstrations in the 1960s, which led to the expulsion of the South Africa cricket team because of their government's apartheid regime, were probably the most dramatic way in which a country has been sidelined by the international community.

Zimbabwe's murderous regime has forced the issue to once again be top of the politics and sport agenda.

Unfortunately these issues will never go away, unlike Robert Mugabe, whose days are numbered.

NO, says Marc Higginson

YOU wouldn't blame Gordon Brown for England's failure to qualify for the European Championships, so why should you punish sportsmen and women for their country's politics?

What is happening in Zimbabwe is nothing short of disgusting, but the young cricketers of the African country should not have their passport to a better life taken away from them.

In every country around the world, sport offers opportunities to people of every age and background and is a release from the pressures of the modern world.

Fair play is a key phrase associated with all sports, and there is nothing fair about banning players from competing for something that is beyond their control.

Far too many South African sporting stars were cruelly robbed of a world stage to showcase their talents by the horrendous apartheid era and it would be a travesty if the same happened to Zimbabwe.

The guy opening the batting for Zimbabwe is not responsible for the atrocities being inflicted by the corrupt government in Harare, and he should be allowed to compete in a sporting arena.

Sport is a great channel for putting counties in the spotlight, and these matches are the perfect opportunity to keep problems like Mugabe in the news; thus making it even harder for governments not to act.

Olympic silver medal for Jason