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Indonesia: World Cup host or knee-jerk nation?
The pollster INDIKATOR conducted a phone survey on March 22-27 that discovered almost 60 percent would have wanted the games to continue, even with Israel participating.
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Members of the Centennial Z community host an event on March 31 called Aksi Duka 1 Juta Pita Hitam (One Million Black Ribbons) to mark the dark days of Indonesian soccer, in Senayan, South Jakarta, following the cancellation of the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup soccer tournament, which was set to run in May and June. (Antara/Dhemas Reviyanto)
“Be a good sport!”
When someone says that to you, it means: Don’t be a sore loser. But it actually means a lot more. According to a website for teens on sportsmanship, it’s about having a positive attitude, giving your best effort, encouraging your teammates, not arguing with officials and following the rules of the game.
If you were to make the website for adults, you might feel tempted to add: Don’t mix sports with politics. After all, the fundamental ethos of sports is to be enjoyed for its own sake, with fairness, ethics and mutual respect.
But the truth of the matter is, as far back as ancient Greece, sports has always been political, “… intricately enmeshed within the larger socio-political context in which it operates” (“Why Sport is always Political”, sportanddevelopment.org, May 12, 2021).
“Sports generate tremendous passion, among millions of people and strong links to identity”, both personal as well as national identity. Hence the intense nationalistic fervor associated with sports, not to mention hooliganism and at times, terrorism.
Who can forget the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, when Black September, the Palestinian militant group, took hostage the Israeli national team? Eventually, 17 were killed: 11 Israeli athletes and coaches, one German police officer and five Black September members. Terrorism is, after all, political violence.
